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UNITED STATES OF AMERICA. 



"THE SCEIPTFEE 

CAN NOT 

BE BROKEN." 

— John x. 35. 



THE SOUL. 
"Who his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree." — 1 Peter 3:24. 

THE BODY. 
"Himself took our infirmities, and bore our sicknesses." — Matt. 8:17. 



DIVINE HEALING 



OR 



THE ATONEMENT 



FOR 



SIN AND SICKNESS 



BY 

CAPT. R. KELSO CARTER. 

For Twenty Years of the Pennsylvania Military College, Author of ' ' Pastor Blum- 

hardt" "Miracles of Healing,'''' "-Supernatural Gifts of the Spirit" 

Editor of "The Kingdom,'''' Etc. 



NEW EDITION, REWRITTEN AND ENLARGED. 




n.^ 




New York: 
JOHN B. ALDEN PUBLISHER. 

1888. 










/ 



Copyright, 1884 and 1888. 

BY 

B. KELSO CARTER. 







DEDICATION. 



( 



I LOVINGLY DEDICATE THIS BOOK TO ONE WITH- 
OUT WHOSE AID IT WOULD NOT HAVE APPEARED; 
TO ONE FOR WHOSE TENDER CARE, PATIENT 
INSTRUCTION, AND GENTLE, LOVING LIFE I SHALL 
THANK GOD THROUGH TIME AND THROUGH 
ETERNITY; TO ONE WHO HAS BEEN EVER TO ME 
THAT WHICH IS PUREST, AND SWEETEST, AND 
HOLIEST IN CHRISTIAN HUMANITY; TO HER WHO 
FIRST TAUGHT ME THE ALL-CONQUERING NAME 
OF THE MIGHTY JESUS: MY MOTHER, 

MART ESTHER (KELSO) CARTER. 



CONTENTS. 



PAfflM 

INTRODUCTION.— From The Century Magazine 9 

Explanation. The Authority — God's Word. Cases Not the Proper Foun- 
dation. The Doctrine. Ancient Medical Knowledge. Specialist Physi- 
cians in Egypt. God's Covenant with Israel. Promises of Health in Ex- 
odus and Deuteronomy. Health to the Obedient Jew. Abraham, Isaac, 
Jacob, David, Solomon, Ahaziah, Asa, Hezekiah. Isaiah's Promises. Jesus 
Christ's Work. Unbelief the Limit. The Apostles' Work. The "Body 
for the Lord." The Earnest of Our Inheritance. The Promise in James. 
Medical Knowledge in the Days of the Apostles. Dean Alford's Comment 
on Jas. v. 14, 15. The Oil Sacramental, not Medicinal. Death. The 
Practice. 

CHAPTER I.— Pardon op Past Sin 21 

Promises of Scripture. Half-hearted Christians. Absurdity of Pardon for 
Future. Modern "Indulgences." 

CHAPTER II.— Kept from Falling 23 

Different Schools. Dr. Hodge. Mr. Moody. John Wesley. Unqualified 
Promises. Salvation a Finished Work. Sickness and Sin Not Mentioned 
as Absent from Heaven. 

CHAPTER III.— Healing op. Bodily Disease 26 

The Atonement for the Body as Well as for the Soul. Special Cures in An- 
swer to Prayer. The General Doctrine. My Own Case. Carl Reed vs. His 
Own Father. Similarity of Evidence for Healing of Soul and of Body. 
Skepticism in the Church. Explaining Miracles. God Works by Scientific 
Law Always. Henry Varley and the Cyclone. "God Said." The Case of 
Sarah. Abimelech's Household. Rebekah. The Exodus. The Decalogue. 
Promises in Deuteronomy. The Wilderness. The Philistines and the Ark. 
Solomon's Vision. Naaman and Hezekiah (page 35). Healing in the 
Psalms. Proverbs. Isaiah's Atonement Chapter. Young's Translation. 
Hegstenberg's. Isaac Leeser's. Jesus Not Sick Inwardly. Sickness and 
Natural Law. Why Christ Bore Our Diseases. Healing and Spiritual 
Blessing. Promises in Jeremiah. Suffering and Disobedience. Ezekiel. 
The Woe to the Shepherds. Micah, Habbakuk, Malachi. The New Testa- 
ment (page 48). The Name Jesus. Christ's Temptation. Satan's Fore- 
knowledge. Feeding on Christ. Conditions of Christ's Miracles. The 



vl CONTENTS. 

PAGE 

Commission to the Twelve. The Seventy. Faith in the Promise Essential. 
An Ignorant Objection. Jesus Came to Save Men's Lives. As thou hast 
sent me, even so send I them. The Apostles' Prayer. Corinthians — The 
Gospel of the Body. Members of Christ. The Laws of Health. Eating and 
Drinking. The Promises, Yea and Amen. Members of His Body. The 
Curse of the Law (page 56). Christ Our Life. The Purpose of the Miracles. 
Thomas Erskine. Admiral Fishbourne. Argument from History and Anal- 
ogy. The Whole a Type of Its Parts. Preparation for the Second Advent. 
Satan's Trump Card. 

1. Sickness from the Devtl 63 

Rev. Samuel Wakefield. Scripture Declarations. God's Part in the Matter. 
The Atonement and Satan's Work. Hymeneus and Alexander. Reasons 
for such terms as " God Smote Him." Miss Havergal's Faulty Logic. Our 
Dear Ones. God's "Hired Razor." 

2. The Importance op the Body 71 

The Body not a Cage. The Real Source of Sin. Paul's Opinion of his 
Body. " The Old Man." The Body for the Lord. The Body of Moses. 

3. A Sanctified Diet 77 

Esoteric Buddhism. The Atonement for Child-birth. Law of Leprosy. 
Law of the Priesthood. Wakefield on Physical Atonement. 

4. Who may be Healed 82 

The Word "Physician." Bible Neglect of Doctors and Medicine. The 
Direction to the Sick in Jas. v. 

5. The Sin unto Death 86 

Sins Forgiven, but Punishment not Remitted. The Case of Moses. The 
Wilderness Life for the Body. Abuses of the Body. Appetites. The Mar- 
riage Relation. 

6. The Perfect Means 90 

Simple Faith and Obedience. Visible Means may be used. Healing and 
Forgiveness. 

CHAPTER IV.— Kept from Sickness 93 

Importance of Conditions. Some Difference Between Soul and Body. Sick- 
ness not Always a Proof of Sin. A Thousand Generations. Christ Fulfills 
the Law. Jacob, the First Recorded Case of Death-sickness. The Day of 
Small Things. Little Sins. Criminal Ignorance of Health Laws. Statutes. 
Scoffers. Dr. Buckley. Sickness a Disgrace. Paul's Testimony. Walk- 
ing in the Light. Job's Case. Sickness sometimes a Means of Grace. 
The Lord's Prayer. God's Will. 

CHAPTER V. — Objections and Questions < 101 

1. The "Vile Body " 101 

2. Trophimus 101 

3. Paul's Thorn 102 

A Messenger of Satan. Its Exceptional Character. The Thorn Healed. 

4. The Man Born Blind 108 

5. Lazarus 109 

The Roaring Lion. How God Sends Evil. 

6. Death Appointed to All * 12 



C0NTE1NT8. vtt 

PAGE 

7. For the Apostolic Age 113 

The Promises and the New Covenant. Why the Apostolic Gifts Disap- 
peared. 

8. The Days of Miracles Have Passed 115 

A Negative Proposition. Epochs. Prophecy. 

9. The Use of Means 119 

Timothy. Hezekiah. The Blind Man. Naaman. Paul and Silas. Was ■ 
Oil a Medicine? Ancient Medical Knowledge. Nothing new under the 
Sun. Oil as a '•Cure-all." Why God has allowed the discovery of medi- 
cine. Symbolism of Jas. v. 14, 15. The Doctors Speak. 

10. Who Are the Elders ? 127 

11. Gifts of Healing 128 

Dr. Cuyler's Views. My Own Call. A Case of Healing. 

12. Casting Out Devils 132 

Dr. Forbes Winslow's Opinion of Demoniacs. Modern "Possession." 

13. Modern Thorns 134 

14. Romanist Miracles 136 

A Case by an Eye-witness. True Faith Always Rewarded. 

15. Glorifying God in Sickness 138 

Possible Obstinacy. Discipline. Uses of Sickness. Job xxiii. Elihu 
and James. Every One Will not be Healed. Sickness not a Dart, but a 
Wound. Kissing the Rod. 

16. God's Will to Heal 144 

Trying to Defeat God's Will. Thy Will be Done. 

17. That Review Article 146 

Epochs. Modern Revivals and Miracles. Signs not Following Those 
who Disbelieve in Signs. Raising the Dead. The Lord's Supper. The 
Imagination. Cheap Miracles. Post-millenniumism. 

18. The Century Articles 152 

Dr. Buckley's Error in Philosophy. 

19. Why Infants Suffer 153 

Inherited Disease. The Pains of Motherhood. 

20. Why Not Instantaneous 155 

Miriam. Shunamite's Son. Hezekiah. Job. David. Blind Man. 
Nobleman's Son. Blind Man at Siloam. Lazarus. Epaphroditus. Trophimus. 

CHAPTER VI.— Full Salvation 159 

The Fourfold Gospel. Quadrangular Christians. Unbelief. The Church 
Preparing for Translation. Chinese Missions and Healing. 

CHAPTER VII.— Review and Conclusion 165 

APPENDIX A.— John Wesley on Divine Healing 174 

APPENDIX B.— The Case of Mrs. Rebecca Fravel 176 

APPENDIX C. — Theosophy and Esoteric Religions, Mind Cure, Christian 

Science, etc 177 

APPENDIX D.— My Confession 179 

Reasons for Writing this Book. My Healing. Calvinism and Arminianism. 
Glossary of Scripture Texts 182 






INfttOblJCTION. 



As the briefest and most comprehensive synopsis of the doctrine advo- 
cated in this book, I have decided to place as an introduction the article 
written for the Century Magazine, and published, in a much reduced form, 
in that journal for March, 1887. In presenting the original draft of that 
article, the attitude of the Century editor and managers toward it will be 
understood in a moment, when I state that they allowed me but four 
pages, while Dr. Schauffler and Dr. Buckley, for their attacks on divine 
healing, occupied altogether some thirty pages. 

By way of explanation, it may be said that the writer has been most 
intimately associated with the " faith-healing " movement ever since it 
first began to attract public attention in this coun try. Seven years ago he 
was healed of a stubborn case of organic heart disease, after the best phy- 
sicians, and the most favorable climate and manner of life had alike sig- 
nally failed to afford relief. At that time the literature concerning this 
subject was limited to the life of Dorothea Triidel, and a small volume of 
Faith-Cures by Dr. Cullis, besides such more general works as Horace 
Bushnell's Nature and the Supernatural. During these seven years, and 
especially in the last four, the subject of healing through faith has risen 
into general prominence, and the literature now forms quite a small library. 
All of these writings are not new, but in many instances are largely com- 
posed of quotations from the early fathers, and other prominent Christians, 
all along the history of the church. In the perusal of this mass of writing, 
and in the contributions which he has himself made to the library men- 
tioned, the writer of this article has necessarily been placed in a position 
to speak with authority on the question, What is the doctrine and practice 
of Divine Healing, as presented by its most prominent advocates? It may 
be added that there is hardly a single individual who has been brought 
prominently forward in this movement with whom he is not acquainted, 
either personally or through some form of correspondence. 

f One other explanation is needed. There are two classes of believers in 
Divine Healing. First, those who hold that God does heal individuals fre- 
quently, according to His sovereign will in the case, and in answer to 
prayer; but that there are many cases in which it is not His will to heal, not 
merely because of failure in the individual to exercise faith or meet some 
divine condition, but over aud above all this. The second class believe 
that the atonement of Jesus Christ has provided a salvation which covers 
the body as well as the soul, and offers the possibility of deliverance from 



io DirmE healing. 

the inward power of sin and sickness in this life, provided we do meet all 
the divine conditions. Both classes agree that means may be used, or left 
untouched ; it being always conceded that these, like the clay and spittle 
upon the eyes of the blind man, would have been entirely inadequate to 
the results obtained. It is in the interest of the second class mentioned, 
which class embraces all the prominent advocates of " faith -healing," that 
this article is written. 

The object of this paper is simply to bring before the reader the real 
nature and ground of the doctrine, as far and as clearly as is possible in such 
limited space as that offered by a brief magazine article. The difficulty 
of the task will be surmised when it is known that a book of three hundred 
pages has proved insufficient to cover all the ground desired. 

THE AUTHORITY. 

The only authority to which any real recognition is accorded is found 
in the Bible. To the Word of our God we bow with absolute submission. 
What God says we propose to believe, whether we have been so fortunate 
as to prove it in our own experience or not. With Daniel Webster, we 
" believe religion to be not a matter of demonstration, but of faith. God 
requires us to give credit to the truths which He reveals, not because we can 
prove them, but because He declares them." This does not mean that we 
are always unable to offer any reasonable proof of our belief, but simply 
emphasizes the thought that the ground for our belief is not found in the 
proof, but in the Word of God alone. The thoughtful reader will now be 
prepared for the following statement, which I formulated years ago. It 
is this: 

Individual cases of healing, or phenomena, are absolutely worthless as 
to the question before us. All the cases in the world have nothing what- 
ever to do directly with the doctrine of Divine Healing, for the very sim- 
ple reason that they are not and never have been made the basis, or 
ground of that doctrine. The only foundation is the Word of God, and 
hence the examination of cases per se has no direct bearing upon the sub- 
ject. Failures in cases may serve to throw light upon defects in the prac- 
tice of healing, but not upon the doctrine itself. The only source of light, 
and the only true battle-ground, lie therefore in the Scriptures of truth. 
Some people seem to be saved instantaneously, so to speak, while many 
others appear to grow gradually into salvation all the way along to the 
grave ; and others still, who profess a desire to be saved, do not receive 
salvation at all, but die in their sins. No Christain, however, thinks of 
making these facts the basis for the doctrine of salvation through faith ; 
that is found exclusively in the promises of the Word. Should the whole 
world fail to be saved, we would still teach the gospel of salvation; and 
if all fail to be healed, we must hold to the gospel of healing, provided 
only that these be found in the Word. And after all has been said, on 



INTRODUCTION. 11 

the human side, one success establishes a possibility in the face of a 
thousand failures. 

THE DOCTEINB. 

Passing rapidly over the time when Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob each 
sought the Lord as the direct healer of physical disorders (see Gen. xx. 17; 
xxv. 21 ; xxx. 2), we come to the date of the Exodus, when God specially 
undertook the salvation of His people. But before reading the Word, here 
let us inquire whether human skill had anything to offer in the way of 
medical treatment. Presumptive evidence upon this point is very strong. 
The antediluvians, with the opportunities afforded by their long lives, must 
have carried scientific matters to a very high point. Their knowledge 
was brought across the waters of the flood by Shem and his brothers ; and 
be it remembered that he was alive until about the time of Jacob's birth. 
Egypt received and developed therefore all the knowledge of the world 
which survived the deluge ; and with this view of the case we can see that 
it is no empty comparison when we are told that " Solomon's wisdom, 
excelled the wisdom of all the children of the east country and all the 
wisdom of Egypt." The wise king is expressly stated to have been filled 
with knowledge far beyond any other man, before or after him ; hence the 
comparison with the wisdom of Egypt greatly exalts the latter. 'Now 
Clement of Alexandria, who lived in the second century, mentions six 
hermetic books of Egyptian medicine, one of which was devoted to surgi- 
cal instruments?^ Besides this, there are now in existence various Egyptian 
papyri, which testify strongly to the skill and fame of the medical men of 
the day. The learned George Ebers, in Uarda, chap, iii, says: " "Whoever 
required a physician sent for him, not to his own house, but to a temple (for 
each was attached to a priestly college). There a statement was required 
of the complaint from which the sick person was suffering, and it was left 
to the principal of the medical staff of the sanctuary to select the master 
of the healing art whose special knowledge appeared to him to be suited 
for the treatment of the case." Herodotus also testifies to the same 
purpose. 

Here, then, we see that the Eyptians possessed medical knowledge 
and skill of a very high degree. But the Scriptures inform us that "Moses 
was learned in all the knowledge of the Egyptians," hence Moses must 
have possessed the highest medical information. Notwithstanding all 
this, when the^ pathway was opened through the sea, the Lord gave the 
following unmistakable promise at the very beginning of their new life. 
In Ex. xv. 26, we read: "If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of 
the Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt 
give ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none 
of these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians: 
for I am the Lord that healeth thee." (or, I am the Lord thy healer). 



12 DIVINE HEALING 

Need we remark, in passing, that this promise Was tested again and 
again? They were healed and kept in health as long as they rendered 
perfect obedience. Moses prayed for leprosy (Num.xii. 13), and Aaron 
for the plague, (Num. xvi. 47,48) . The serpent's bite found its cure solely 
through faith (Num. xxvi. 9), and the pestilence vanished when David 
sacrificed (2 Sam. xxiv. 25). The Psalmist declares that when the chil- 
dren of Israel walked through the wilderness ' 'there was not one feeble 
(sick) person among their tribes," (Ps. cv. 37); and Solomon reminds the 
people that there had not failed one word of all the promises given 
through Moses, (1 K. viii. 56). Joshua, also, before he died, said to the 
people, "Ye know in all your hearts, and in all your souls, that not one 
thing hath failed of all the good things which the Lord your God spake 
concerning you: all are come to pass unto you, and not one thing hath 
failed thereof," (Josh, xxiii. 14). 

We are therefore confronted with the fact, that instead of sending the 
people to Moses for the benefit of his learning, they were referred only to 
fi-od, and were actually preserved in physical health so long as they obeyed 
the divine commands. But let us read the health covenant more fully. In 
the fifth commandment we find the most explicit promise of physical life, 
conditioned on obedience to parents. Passing on, we read passages like 
the following, which cannot be disputed on any ground whatever: "Oh, 
that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep 
all my commandments always, that it misjht be well with them, and with 
their children forever." (Deut. v. 29). (This will reach down to our day 
and generation). ' 'Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your God 
Jiath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with, 
you, that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall possess" 
(v. 33). "If thou shalt indeed obey his voice, and do all that I speak . . . 
I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." (Ex. xxiii. 22-25). "If 
ye shall despise my statutes, or if your soul abhor my judgments, so that 
ye will not do allmy commandments, but that ye break my covenant; I 
also will do this unto you ; 1 will even appoint over you terror, consump- 
tion, and the burning ague, that shall consume your eyes and cause sorrow 
of heart. ' ' (Lev. xxvi. 15, 16). ' 'If ye hearken to these judgments, and keep 
and do them, . . . the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and 
will put none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon 
thee; but will lay them upon all them that hate thee." (Deut. vii. 12- 
15). "If thou wilt not observe to da all the words of this law that are 
written in this book, . . . then the Lord will make thy plagues wonder- 
ful, and the plagues of thy seed, even great plagues, and of long continu- 
ance, and sore sicknesses, and of long continuance. Moreover, he will 
bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of, and 
they shall cleave unto thee. Also every sickness and every plague which 
is not written in the book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, 
until thou be destroyed. And ye shall be left few in number." (Deut. 



INTRODUCTION. 13 

xxviii. 58-62). Manifestly, if "every sickness" was to come only if they 
disobeyed, tney would be absent if tney were obedient. 

Certainly tnere will not be found a man who will attempt to deny, in 
the face of all this, that the Jew was promised entire deliverance from all 
manner of sickness by the power of God alone, and that the only condi- 
tion was perfect obedience. We have already seen that the Jews 
understood this, even from the days of Abraham. The case of that 
patriarch has been cited, as well as those of Isaac and Jacob. The his- 
tory of the march through the wilderness is full of illustrations. When 
thev obeyed they were healthy. When they disobeyed they were 
afflicted, but were always cured by prayer. David has left the most 
abundant testimony to his understanding of the matter. Hear him: < ' The 
Lord is the strength of my life." (Ps. xxvii. 1). "O Lord, my God, I 
cried unto thee, and thou hast healed me." (xxx. 2). "O Lord, thou 
hast brought up my soul from the grave, thou hast kept me alive, that I 
should not go down to the pit. ' ' (xxx. 3). * 'The Lord will strengthen him 
upon the bed of languishing: thou wilt make all his bed in his sickness." 
(xli., 3). "He that dwelleth in the secret place of the Most High shall 
abide under the shadow of the Almighty. Surely he shall deliver thee 
from the snare of the fowler, and from the noisome pestilence. Thou 
shalt not be afraid for the terror by night ; nor for the arrow that flieth 
by day; 4ior for the pestilence that walketh in darkness; nor for the 
destruction that wasteth at noonday." (xci. 1, 6). "Bless the Lord, O 
my soul, and forget not all his benefits : who f orgiveth all thine iniquities ; 
who healeth all thy diseases*/ who redeemeth thy hf e from destruction 
... so that thy youth is renewed like the eagle's." (ciii. 2, 5). Many 
more quotations could be given, but these will suffice. 

When Solomon dedicated the temple, he prayed that God would heal 
"whatsoever plague or sickness there may be," when the sufferer should 
pray towards that house, and the Lord distinctly promised to do so. "If 
my people, which are called by my name, shall humble themselves, and 
pray and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways: then will I hear 
from heaven, and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land. " (2 Chr. 
vii. 13, 14). 

When David's child was sick we read of no physician in the case ; the 
prophet brought the word of the Lord. Even the mighty sinner Jero- 
boam knew where to send when disease struck his child, and so we find 
his wife going to the prophet of the Lord. And later on the stern rebuke 
and inexorable sentence of the Almighty are given to Ahaziah, because 
he sent to enquire of Baalzebub, and forgot that there was a God in 
Israel. Finally, on this line, the case of Asa stands out as the greatest 
lesson of the whole inspired record. He had been severely rebuked for 
trusting in the king of Syria instead of the Lord ; but when he fell ill the 
lesson was not remembered, for we read, " And Asa was diseased in his 
feet, until his disease was exceeding great ; yet in his disease he sought not 



14 DIVINE HEALING. 

to the Lord, but to the physicians. And Asa slept with his fathers and 
died." (2 Chr. xvi. 12, 13). Two hundred years later Hezekiah prayed 
earnestly, and the Lord miraculously healed him, employing as his messen- 
ger an i aspired prophet, and not a physician, and in answer to the king's 
prayer the people also were healed. (2 Kings xx. 1-11, 2 Chr. xx. 15). 

There is no mistaking the sense of the Word in these two instances. 
Asa failed to put his case in the Lord's hands, and sought human help in- 
stead. For this he died. But Hezekiah besought the Lord to heal him, 
even when the sentence of death had been pronounced, and for this appeal 
and manifestation of faith he lived ; yet, when Hezekiah failed to clearly 
testify of God's healing to the Babylonish ambassadors, the judgment of 
heaven fell upon him also. (2 Chr. xxiii. 31, and 2 K. xx. 12). Before leaving 
this period let the reader turn to Job xxxiii. 14-30, and see what a clear 
declaration it makes concerning God's purpose in sickness; and then we 
will be ready to take the next step in the argument. 

So far we have builded on a rock. Divine healing for the Jew can 
not be disputed for a moment. But now, having traced it clearly in the 
Word to the closing days of the kingdom, it becomes necessary to show 
that it bridges the gulf between the kings and the advent of the Messiah. 
We have just seen Isaiah employed as an agent in a " faith-cure/ ' Let 
us read what he has to say upon the subject. The great atonement 
chapter of the Old Testament gives us the following literal readings: " A 
man of pains and acquainted with sicirness. " (verse 3). "Surely our 
sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains he hath carried them." (4). 
" And by his bruises there is healing to us." (5). "And Jehovah hath 
dehojhted to bruise him, he hath made him sick." (10). The above is 
Dr. Kobert Young's translation, made of course without the faintest idea 
of assisting modern " f aith-hcalers. " Dr. Isaac Leeser gives a significant 
rendering of the fourth verse: " But only our diseases did he bear himself, 
and our pains he carried. " Now in view of the facts developed in the pre- 
ceding argument, what ^ort of mind would it have required in a Jew to 
say that this chapter only referred to spiritual blessings? But we are not 
left to human argument here. With/^ -* spending further time on such 
passages as Jer. xvii. 5-1 l , and xxxii. *v, Ez. xxxiv. 2-16; Micahvi. 13, 
and Mai. iv. 2, we pass t j once to the time of Christ. 

From the very beginning of His ministry, Jesus Christ joined the 
body with the soul; and we read that He healed "all that had need of 
healing." In Matt. viii. 16, we find a commentary written by the Holy 
Spirit, which cannot possibly be explained away. "When even was 
come, they brought unto him many that were possessed with devils ; and 
he cast out the spirits with his word, and healed all that were sick: that 
it might be fulfilled which was spoken by the prophet, saying : Him- 
self took our infirmities, and bare our sicknesses." Here, then, the Holy 
Ghost informs us that the words of Isaiah did refer to the body. But 
the apostle Peter also quotes these same words for the soul, when he 



INTBODTJCTION. 15 

says: "Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree." 
(1 Pet. ii. 24). Let him who can disprove the following: 

If Peter can be relied on for the present day and generation, so can 
Matthew. And if Matthew's quotation has no force to-day, then neither 
has Peter's . 

The Jew believes in a material kingdom; the Christian in a spiritual 
dominion. "We claim that both are right in what they receive, and both 
are wrong in what they reject. The truth concerning salvation embraces 
the entire man, spirit, soul, and body. In the new dispensation we have 
not lost anything. There has not been a subtraction, but an addition. 
Jesus Christ did not abolish the decalogue, nor the moral law ; the cere- 
monial only passed away. He came to fulfill, not to destroy. Our 
spiritual advantages in the dispensation of the Holy Ghost are not offset 
by a corresponding loss on the physical side. We are not playing at see- 
saw with the Jew. The laws of health and of healthy food have not 
changed since the days of Moses. "We find trichinae in pork, tape-worms 
in the hare ; and equally good scientific reasons have been discovered for 
accepting nearly or quite all of the bill of fare laid down three thousand 
years ago. But let us follow the New Testament teaching on the subject. 

Jesus Christ never turned away from those who sought healing at His 
hands. He specially commissioned the twelve to heal as weS as to 
preach; and later the same commission was given to the seventy. (Luke 
ix. 1-6 ; and x. 1-19). The only limit to these benefits was unbelief , as is 
plainly declared in Mark vi. 5 ; and Luke, iv. 27. His last words, accord- 
ing to Mark, contain a positive promise of the " signs" which should "fol- 
low them that believe;" among which we find the healing of the sick 
through the laying on of hands. This was not a promise to the apostles, but 
to "them that believe". Some who have written against this doctrine 
have been so short-sighted as to point to the absence of these signs 
among certain prominent teachers, as proof that the day of such mani- 
festations has passed. They are sadly illogical. The only correct infer- 
ence is that these persons are troubled with unbelief, at least on this point; 
and their candid confession fully sustains such a conclusion. 

The apostles took up the work of healing as a very important part of 
the gospel. " Such as I have give I thee," said Peter at the beautiful 
gate of the temple. Let us recall the significant words of the old Eomish 
prelate, when his companion remarked, as he gave alms to a beggar, 
M The church can no longer say; with St. Peter, 'silver and gold have 1/ 
none'," "True father, but neither can she say 'in the name of JesusA 
Christ of Nazareth, rise up and walk'. " In those days a man, who like 
Stephen was full of the Holy Ghost and of faith, almost of necessity did 
great signs and wonders among the people; and simple healings abounded 
everywhere. "When the unbelievers raged against them, the apostles did 
not merely ask for more grace to bear it, but actually prayed for "signs 
and wonders, in the name of Jesus." (Acts iv. 29). 






16 DIVINE HEALING. 

In 1 Cor. vi. 13, Paul asserts that "the body is for the Lord, and the 
Lord for the body;" and in chap. xi. 30, he tells us of some who were 
sick, and others who died because of sin. Continuing his explanations 
to the Corinthians, we find several chapters devoted to the "gifts of the 
Spirit," among which "gifts of healing" are prominent. A little 
simple logic at this point will be of assistance. These gifts have pre- 
cisely the same apostolic warrant as the "word of wisdom" or the. 
"word of knowledge." The church has not thrown away "govern/ 
ments," indeed she is well nigh governed to death in these days; nut the 
apostle, in verse 28, chap. xii. ranks this "gift" far below "healings," 
if there be any discrimination in the order ot statement. 

Again, the Holy Spirit brings to us "the earnest of our inheritance," 
(Eph. i. 14,). Part of this inheritance is to have "our mortal bodies 
quickened by his Spirit." (Kom. viii.ll), "He that hath the Son hath 
life," and it is therefore concluded that "Christ formed within you the 
hope of glory" must or may give an earnest of the "purchased possession" 
not merely on one side — the spiritual, but on the physical as well. 
The body is to share in the glorification, hence the "earnest" includes 
the body. An impartation therefore of the Divine Life is looked for, 
in the body as well as in the soul, enabling the man to perform any and 
all God-directed work until the day of his departure arrives, or Christ 
comes the second time. 

Finally, we have the unanswerable direction to the sick in Jas. v. 14, 
15. "Is any sick among you? (among you believers) let him call for the 
elders of the church ; and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil 
in the name of the Lord : and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the 
Lord shall raise him up ; aud if he have committed sins (as a cause of the 
complaint) they shall be forgiven him." Concerning this passage John 
Wesley remarks, in his Notes on the New Testament, in accord with Ben- 
gel, "This single conspicuous gift, which Christ committed to His apostles, 
remained in the church long after the miraculous gifts were withdrawn. 
Indeed it seems to have been designed to remain always, and St. James 
directs the elders, who were the most, if not the only gifted men, to 
administer it. This was the whole process of physic in the Christian 
church, till it was lost through unbelief, "'^j' This statement of Wesley's 
brings up the question as to the progress made in medical science in the 
time of Christ. A very few quotations will suffice. 

We find in the Homeric poems abundant evidence that, at that early- 
day, medicine as a science was by no means a new thing. "And there is 
no sign given of the subordination of medicine to religion, nor were 
priests charged with medical functions . . . circumstances which throw 
grave doubts on the commonly received opinion that medicine derived its 
origin in all countries from religious observances." (Enc. Brit.) Hip- 
pocrates the Great (B. C. 460) was a voluminous writer, a close observer, 
and a skillful physician. He mentions no less than two hundred and 



INTRODUCTION. 17 

sixty-five drugs in his various works, besides many dietary and surgical 
remedies or methods. In all chronic cases he chiefly relied upon diet, 
exercise and such natural methods. After him arose two schools under 
Herophilus of Chalcedon, a profound anatomist and a renowned physi- 
cian, and his rival Erasistratus. (Doctors disagreed in those days as well as 
at present). Alexandria, the seat of learning, received the followers of 
both, and was the scene of a long controversy between them. Erasis- 
tratus and his disciples employed a "great variety of drugs." (Enc. Brit.) 
After these arose the Empiric school (280 B. C.) whose physicians were 
"extremely successful in practical matters, especially in surgery and the 
use of drugs, and a large part of the routine knowledge of diseases and 
remedies, which became traditional in the times of the Eoman empire, is 
believed to have been derived from them." (Enc. Brit.) Asclepiades, the 
friend of Cicero, (124 B. C.) founded a system known as fMethodism." 
His knowledge of disease and surgical skill was very considerable. In the 
treatment of sickness he laid great stress upon "diet, exercise, passive 
movements or frictions, and the external use of cold water;" in short, a 
modified athletic training. This is surely sufficient to convince the most 
skeptical that oil was only one of hundreds of remedies current among the 
physicians of the time. 

Before leaving this passage in James let us read no less an authority 
than Dean Alford. He says, " 'shall save' . . . already here, considering 
that the forgiveness of sin is afterwards stated separately, sosei can only 
be used of corporeal healmg, not of the salvation of the soul . . . The 
anointing was not a mere human medium of cure, but had a sacramental 
character. (The same words are used of baptism, Matt, xxviii. 19 ; Acts 
ii. 38; x. 48; xix. 5.) . . The apostle is enforcing the efficacy of prayer 
in afihctions. verse 13. Of such efficacy he adduces one special instance. 
In sickness, let the sick man inform the elders of the church. Let them, 
representing the congregation of the faithful, pray over the sick man, 
accompanying that prayer with the symbolic and sacramental act of 
anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. Then the prayer of faith shall 
save (heal) the sick man, and the Lord shall bring him up out of his sick- 
ness ; and even if it were occsasioned by some sin, that sin shall be for- 
given him. Such is the simple and undeniable sense of the apostle, argu- 
ing for the efficacy of prayer. . . . Observe the promises here made of 
recovery and forgiveness are unconditional, as in Mark xvi. , 18 al. . . 
And pray for one another that ye may be healed in case of sickness, 
as above. The context here forbids any wider meaning. " 

Death is a consequence of sin, and is unmistakably a part of the curse 
of the law. But "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law," 
Gal. iii. 13), and a logical conclusion leads us to believe in translation, 
were it not for the special scripture which steps in on this point, as it cer- 
tainly does not in the case of sickness, and declares that: "It is appointed 
unto men once to die." (Heb, ix, 27), Bead also Kom, viii. 10-23; 1 



18 DIVINE HEALING. 

Cor, xv. 23-32; Col. iii. 4; Heb. ii, 8; and ix, 28, These texts with- 
hold the boon of translation from the direct covenant, and retain it in the 
special providence of God, except for the living, waiting saints at the 
second advent. They have its sure promise. 

" Jesus Christ, the same, yesterday, to-day, and for ever," is a tre- 
mendous declaration. Now we have seen that the promises of God most 
undeniably contain the assurance of physical health, conditioned on obedi- 
ence. These promises have not been outlawed by time. We cannot 
throw them away without sacrificing the decalogue itself and all the 
moral law. An unbroken line of leaders, kings and prophets carry them 
down to the gospel dispensation in which we live. These promises of 
God then are ours to-day. But upon what is their efficacy based ? In 
2 Cor, i. 20, we read, " For all the promises of God in Him are yea, 
and in Him amen, unto the glory of God by us," These are included in 
the "all;" therefore, they are yea and amen in Christ. And this simply 
means that they owe their existence and power entirely and solely to the 
vicarious atonement of our Lord and Saviour. There is no escape from 
this conclusion. The atonement gives life to the promises ; and the 

Eromises, beyond all dispute, provide physical health, as well as soul 
ealing. The conditions to-day are the same as of old. We must 
believe, and obey. Belief is faith, and obedience is works, "Faith 
without works is dead;" so belief and simple obedience cannot be sep- 
arated. When Naaman joined his obedience to his belief, and dipped 
in Jordan, faith and works were united, and salvation resulted. It is 
ever so, 

THE PEACTICE. 

1. "Faith-healers" believe in the use of means. The Scriptural 
means are always employed: — 1. Laying on of hands. 2. Anointing with 
oil. 3. The prayer of faith. They believe in occasional special leadings 
of the Spirit to employ other means, which may be inherently efficacious 
or not. 

2. No one is advised to lay aside all medicines, by any prominent 
teacher or leader, unless he can do so with perfect spontaneity, A forced 
abstinence from drugs is mere will power, not faith. 

3. Faith in the patient is regarded as necessary when the individual is 
responsible. Even the man borne by his friends, and let down through 
the roof, had to obey the command, "Rise, take up thy bed." Special 
exceptions to this are known, where the individuals have not even been 
aware of the prayer offered in their behalf. These would be included 
under a promise like that in Jas. v. 16, "Pray one for another that ye 
may be healed," as general answers to prayer. They are certainly 
conclusive against the supposition of a "mental subjective condition" in 
the patient. 

4. A perfect consecration of the whole spirit, soul and body, as a "liv- 



INTRODUCTION. \% 

ing sacrifice, " is strongly urged. All are taught that it is almost blasphe- 
mous to ask for healing with any other view than the entire devotement 
to God of the renewed powers. Hence the universal experience of spiritual 
blessings in those seeking healing. 

5. Inquirers are instructed to believe they do receive, when the Spirit 
witnesses within that their consecration and obedience are complete, and 
the prayer has been offered. They are to believe this on the simple war- 
rant of the Word. ' ' What things soever ye desire, when ye pray, believe 
that ye receive them, and ye shall have them." This is in precise accord 
with the method pursued with those seeking salvation, "Believe and 
receive" is the formula that always applies. A man acts out his real 
belief ; hence the patient is told to act as if he were well, (if he can do so 
in faith). The leaders in this movement have themselves received life and 
health while following this same plan of action ; and therefore give this 
advice with all knowledge and honesty, 

6. The laying on of hands, or prayer and anointing, are distinctly 
taught to be of no efficacy in themselves, any more than Jordan was to 
Naaman. But it is held that "to obey is better than sacrifice." 

7. God has chosen to save men through the " foolishness of preaching, " 
yet all who hear are not saved. In precisely the same way, all for whom 
prayer is offered are not healed: This, however, affords no excuse for the 
abolition of either preaching or praying. Lists of failures are not kept in 
either case ; and the real reason lies in the fact presented in the beginning 
of this article, that the doctrines of Christianity are not founded upon 
phenomena, but upon the Word of God alone. 

8. All who intelligently weigh the meaning of words, counsel the use 
of such expressions as will clearly convey the correct idea. A man who 
is exercising faith, but finds his symptoms continue, is advised to say, I 
believe I am healed, on the warrant of the promise. He is told not to 
say he feels, but he believes. 

" 9, It is taught that Satan can tempt to sickness, precisely as he can 
tempt to inward sin; by producing a symptom. He can consistently 
advise the use of a medicine to one who is striving to fix his faith on 
God's power alone, especially when he thinks that the remedy will ac- 
complish nothing. (In any case it is as consistent as the actions of those 
good people who profess to believe that it is the will of God for them to 
suffer, and at the same time spend time and wealth on every conceivable 
medicine in the attempt to defeat that will by getting welO 

10. Finally, it is distinctly taught that Divine Healing, like every 
branch of salvation, is a matter for personal experience, and as such is 
not susceptible of perfectly logical explanation to the unbeliever. To 
him all such things are "foolishness," but "to us who believe" they be- 
come "the power of God." Every saved or healed man can testify from 
his heart, "One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see," 
though he may utterly fail to convince the Scribes and Pharisees. 



20 DIVINE HEALING. 

True or false, there is no belief rising more swiftly before the churches 
everywhere than that of Divine Healing. There are over thirty ' ' faith- 
homes" in America to-day. In England, and on the continent of Europe, 
can be found a large number; some of them commodious institutions 
with a history of many decades of years. In June 1885 an International 
Conference on this subject assembled in London, composed of delegates 
from all parts of the world, and the great Agricultural Hall was taxed 
to its utmost to accomodate the serious crowds that flocked to hear. 
During the last two seasons a number of conventions have been held 
in New York, Brooklyn, Philadelphia, Baltimore, Pittsburg, Detroit, 
and elsewhere, in all of which Divine Healing has claimed an import- 
ant part. The mass of evidence offered, the multitude of witnesses 
arising and the words of Scripture on the subject demand at least a 
respectful hearing, and invite the closest scrutiny into the doctrine an<? 
practice of Divine Healing. 



DIVEST HEALING. 



CHAPTEK I. 

PARDON OF PAST SIN. 

" Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on the tree, that we, being dead to 
8ins, should live unto righteousness." — 1 Pet. ii. 24. 

It is hardly necessary to attempt to show that the Atonement was 
intended to cover committed sin. Ihis little book is written primarily for 
Christians, and of course there is not a Christian on the face of the earth 
who does not believe that the death of our Lord provides a full and free 
pardon for all our past sins, and all our past unrighteousness. Neverthe- 
less it may be well to quote Scripture on this point, that the whole 
argument may be presented together. 

" Who was delivered for our offences, and was raised again for our 
justification." — Kom. iv. 25. 

" For all have sinned, and come short of the glory of God ; being 
justified freely by his grace through the redemption that is in Christ 
J esus ; whom God hath set forth to be a propitiation through faith in his 
blood, to declare his righteousness for the remission of sins that are past, 
through the forbearance of God." — Kom. iii. 23-25. 

" By him all that believe are justified from all things." — Acts xiii. 39. 

" All we like sheep have gone astray ; we have turned every one to 
his own way ; and the Lord hath laid on him the iniquity of us all." — Isa. 
liii. 6. 

"Thou wilt cast all their sins into the depths of the sea." — Micah 
vii. 19. 

" I, even I, am he that blotteth out thy transgressions for mine own 
sake, and will not remember thy sins." — Isa. xliii. 25. 

" I have blotted out, as a thick cloud, thy transgressions, and as a 
cloud, thy sins; return unto me; for I have redeemed thee." — Isa. 
xliv. 22. 

" He made intercession for the transgressors." — Isa. liii. 12. 

" Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits : who for- 
giveth all thine iniquities?' — Ps. ciii. 2, 3. 

" And he shall redeem Israel from all his iniquities." — Ps. cxxx. 8. 

Of course we could consume hours in simply reading the Scriptures 
upon this point. Jesus Christ came into the world to save sinners ; and 



22 DIVINE HEALING. 

every Christian believes, if he believes at all, that the Atonement covers 
all his past sins and all his past unrighteousness, up to the present 
moment. He who does not believe this, directly confesses that he would 
be lost if he should instantly die. The pardon of past sin is, of necessity, 
the first boon to the sinner. He feels condemned ; his offenses are like 
miil-stones about his neck, and he cries unto God for release from the 
death sentence, which he can feel hanging over his head. Having 
obtained pardon, the soul feels justified by faith, and has peace with God, 
through our Lord Jesus Christ. Christ becomes the Elder Brother, and 
" Our Father " rises to the lips, and thus, Adoption is realized. 

Many Christians live for years on the very first round of the ladder. 
They have received pardon for past offences, and nothing more. They 
do not feel fully justified up to the present moment ; have very little 

Eeace, and do not dare to declare their adoption into the family of the 
,ord. Are you a Christian? is answered with evident reluctance by the 
hesitating, " I hope so." But all such are fully aware of their privilege 
and duty in the premises. * They know that they ought to have peace, to 
feel sure of their pardon, and to know the family to which they belong 
well enough to declare their relationship without any misgivings. This 
full experience and faith constitute justification. 

Just here I call special attention to the fact that justification, in the 
Very nature of the case and of the word, has reference only to the past. 
Even Dr. Charles Hodge frankly acknowledges the " apparent solecism " 
in speaking of the pardon or justification of future sins. To most men's 
minds such language is an actual solecism. ' My own common sense 
tells me that I can not be pardoned to-day for sins that will be committed 
to-morrow. The Eomanist buys an "indulgence" for future sin; but 
even the daring presumption of a John Tetzel never ventured to call these 
licenses by the name of pardon. And I most earnestly maintain that the 
man who teaches that, at conversion, the soul is justified from all the sins 
of the past, and from all the sins of the future, is just as much preaching 
an indulgence for sin, as ever did the famous monk of Kef ormation times. 
Hear Ezekiel : 

" But when the righteous turneth away from his righteousness, and 
committeth iniquity, and doeth according to all the abominations that the 
wicked man doeth, shall he live? All his righteousness that he hath 
done shall not be mentioned : in his trespass that he hath trespassed, -and 
in his sin that he hath sinned, in them shall he die."— Ezek. xviii. 24. 

"The righteousness of the righteous shall not deliver him in the day 
of his transgression ; neither shall the righteous be able to live for his 
righteousness in the day that he sinneth." — Ezek. xxxiii. 12. 

The Church needs a radical reformation to-day on this point. There 
are too many indulgences sold. The successors of John Tetzel proclaim 
to-day you can not live without sin ; therefore the Atonement pardons 
you in advance for the unavoidable transgressions of the morrow. 



KEPT FROM FALLING. 23 

Ezekiel is not read, and a false theology paralyzes the activities of many 
souls. My brother, realize the truth. Pardon refers to the past. Justi- 
fication establishes your present standing, not your future actions. Jesus 
Christ grants no indulgences for sin. . But learn that there is a wider and 
deeper experience than this. Something more is included in the Atone- 
ment. Open your eyes ; reach forth your hands ; go boldly on, and you 
shall obtam. 



CHAPTEE II. 



KEPT FROM FALLING. 



" Unto him who is able to keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before 
the presence of his glory with exceeding joy, to the only wise God our Saviour, be glory and 
majesty, dominion and power, both now and ever. Amen."- — Jude 25. 

There are many precious promises of Scripture given to " him that over- 
cometh," and every true Christian struggles manfully to overcome sin, 
both outward and inward. We are told by the large majority of the 
Church, that it is possible to get the victory over all outward transgress- 
ions, so that we will give no visible display of anger, resentment, malice, 
envy or uncharitableness ; that this can be accomplished through the 
agencies of constant prayer and unceasing watchfulness ; but that we can 
not hope to avoid all inward sin, much less to be free from the taint of 
the natural heart. Dr. Charles Hodge, representing the more rigid school, 
assures us that an " advanced Christian" will find himself " sinning, even 
daily, in thought, word and deed." Mr. Moody may be cited as the lead- 
ing representative of a school that believes that God's grace is sufficient 
for all trials and temptations, and that by this grace we can have the 
victory always in thought, word and deed ; but that this is always a 
victory over a real enemy who dwells within the soul to the very hour 
of death. In other words, this latter theory does not accept the entire 
extermination of the inbeing of sin, but maintains that the roots are still 
within the heart, and require the most constant repression to prevent 
sprouting. 

It may be said that this last is surely all that is necessary, since it 
certainly embraces the idea of being actually " kept from falling." Un- 
doubtedly it is much superior to the others ; but I maintain that even this 
theory positively limits the Atonement of Christ. The "Wesleyan theory, 
however, presents as possible, to every believer who will fill the conditions 
of absolute consecration, unhesitating faith, and constant confession, an 
experience of Christ's saving power, deep enough to root up every trace 
of inbred depravity, and to utterly exterminate the inbeing of sin. In 
this experience there is a war, it is true, an unremitting conflict with the 
power of darkness ; but it is a battle in which, like God's people of old, 



24 DIVINE HEAIING. 

we " stand still and see the salvation of the Lord." "We " do not need to 
fight in this battle," but simply trust Jesus to do it all for us. "We " shout 
for the Lord hath given us the city," and do not lift a finger in the struggle, 
except in the exercise of our faith in the perfect work of Jesus. 

There is a very important element of faith and of doctrine contained 
in this last idea of the Atonement, which is practically wanting in each 
of the others. Only in the "Wesleyan view of the matter is the Atone- 
ment believed to be instantaneous in its application to unrighteousness, 
or inward depravity. Even the Moody, or .Plymouth Brethren, theory, 
grand as it is, looks upon the Atonement as incapable of relieving the soul 
from the load of inherited evil disposition until the very hour of death. 
Perhaps the word " incapable" would be rejected ; but it does not alter 
the sense in the least to say that the Atonement was not designed to 
cleanse the soul completely before the hour and article of death. The 
practical result to the experience of the soul is that Jesus' sacrifice can not 
remove the troublesome roots of sin. 

The Scripture being the only authority, let us notice a few points : 

To the tempted I quote : " God is faithful, who will not suffer you to 
be tempted above that ye are able; but will with the temptation also make 
a way to escape, that ye may be able to bear it." — 1 Cor. x. 13. 

""Sow thanks be unto God, which always causeth us to triumph in 
Christ." — 2 Cor. ii. 14 If the dread of sins of thought rise before you, 
read, " For the weapons of our warfare are not carnal, but mighty through 
God to the pulling down of strongholds ; casting down imaginations, and 
every high thing that exalteth itself against the knowledge of God, and 
bringing into captivity every thought to the obedience of Christ." — 2 Cor. 
x. 4, 5. And if this seem impossible, remember the challenge of the Al- 
mighty, " Is anything too hard for the Lord ?" — Gen. xviii. 14 ; and the 
specific promise, ringing down from the ancient times. " And the Lord 
thy God will circumcise thine heart, and the heart of thy seed, to love the 
Lord thy God with all thine heart, and with all thy soul, that thou 
mayest live." — Deut. xxx. 6. Eead also, Ezek. xxxvi. 25-29 ; 1 Jno. i. 
7; Jude24, Heb.vii. 25.^ 

Now this little book is founded entirely upon the grand central truth, 
that ample provision was made upon Calvary for the actual and practical 
destruction of the works of the devil — sin and sickness. When Jesus 
cried 



He expressed this fundamental fact. He came to " destroy the works of 
the devil;" and when He said that mission was accomplished, I propose to 
believe Him. I am not shutting my eyes to the fact that death is a work 
of the devil. Undoubtedly it is, but we have this provided for in Scrip- 
ture, and are told that " death the last enemy shall be destroyed." I read 
in Eevelation that in the eternal city there shall be no sorrow or sighing, 



KEPT FROM FALLING. 25 

no tears or tribulation, and no night; but I do not read that there shall be 
no sin or sickness. Now if it be a fact that we must sin and sicken up to 
the moment of our entrance into glory, why did not the Revelator mention 
the new and wondrous experience of the glorified saints in heaven? He 
thought it worth while to write down the exemption from sorrow and 
tears. Ah! John remembered the words of Jesus, " In the world ye shall 
have tribulation;" " Blessed are ye, when men shall revile you, and perse- 
cute you, and shall say all manner of evil against you falsely, for my sake. 
Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: for great is your reward in heaven." 
John knew well that no saint would ever be free from these things, while 
in the flesh, and so he pictures the delights of the holy city when " God 
shall wipe away all tears from their eyes ; and there shall be no more 
death, neither sorrow, nor crying, neither shall there be any more pain;* 
for the former things are passed away." And he it was who wrote, 
" whosoever is born of God doth not commit sin," for " if we walk in the 
light, as He is in the light, we have fellowship one with another; and the 
blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us from all sin." He, of all 
others, clearly taught that the Christain should be entirely free from sin, 
in this life; and therefore he did not mention the exemption from sin in 
heaven, for this would be nothing new to the soul that is completely 
washed in the blood. It may be suggested that the absence of 
temptation in the new Jerusalem is not specified either. To this I reply 
that, where there is no sorrow, no crying, no tears, no death and no devil, 
there could not be any temptation. Of course a perfectly pure heart could 
not be tempted from the inside ; temptation must come from without, as 
in the case of Eve ; and when " death, the last enemy " has been de- 
stroyed, and Satan eternally consigned to his prison home, manifestly 
there could be no temptation. It goes without saying. Besides, we may 
easily claim that " sorrow, crying, tears." etc., obviously include the idea 
of temptation ; for what Christian does not know, that a sorrow, which 
does not present the temptation to doubt God in some way, is not worthy 
of the name ? 

I have thus briefly defined the true doctrine of the Atonement for the 
soul. It embraces pardon from past sins and past uncleanness; and cleans- 
ing from all traces of inherited depravity, as well as the keeping power 
against sin in any form, outward or inward. The Atonement of Jesus 
Christ is a finished sacrifice, once for all, for my sins of commission and of 
omission, and for inbred sins; and of course provides for a maintenance 
of cleanness in my soul. As this is the familiar branch of the subject, I 
will not write more upon it: but will refer the reader to such works as 

* This word, in the original, is ponos. The primary meaning of this word, as given by 
Robinson, by Pickering and others, is work, labor, toil, travail, etc. The secondary meaning 
may be pain, but more the in sense of distress, trouble, misery, injustice, etc. The word is 
derived, by Robinson, from peno. It is thus abundantly proven that the idea of disease is 
not suggested at all. 



26 DIVINE HEALING. 

"Wesley's Sermon on Perfection ; his Plain Account of Christian Perfection; 
Bishop Foster's Christian Purity ; Geo. D. Watson's Holiness Manual ; 
¥m. McDonald's Scriptural Views of Holiness ; the first Epistle general 
of John, and St. Paul's letter to the Hebrews. The latter is a regular, 
systematic treatise on the doctrine of Entire Sanctification, and anyone 
who reads it honestly, before God, will surely find "the way into the 
holiest." Praise the Lord ! 



CHAPTER III. 

HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 
" Who healeth all thy diseases." — Ps. ciii. 3. 

By the grace of God I expect to show that the Atonement has pro- 
vided for the body all it has provided for the soul. As this is a feature 
of Christ's sacrifice which has been largely buried beneath a mass of 
skepticism, doubts, unbelief and f orgetfulness, it will require much more 
space than has been devoted to the preceding chapters. 

Of course every true Christian readily admits that God can cure bodily 
sickness ; and that He has often done so, and done it in answer to prayer. 
There are few families in the land who can not point to some incident of 
this kind. A dear one had come nigh unto death ; physician's skill was 
exhausted, and no hope remained. But in their extremity they called 
upon God, and suddenly the symptoms changed, and the patient recovered. 
A single sample will suffice. The young son of a Methodist minister was 
slowly but surely choking to death with membranous croup. The father 
gathered together several brother ministers, and together they kneeled 
about the bed and besought God to spare the child. "While they thus 
prayed, a spasm of coughing seized him, a hard mass of phlegm was dis- 
lodged, and the boy recovered. This was many years ago, and he is still 
living. Of such a case as this the doubter exclaims — " W hy he was going 
to cough anyhow, and the result was merely a happy accident ;" but the 
Christian readily yields the glory to God. Everyone knows that such 
occurrences as this are without number in the history of the Christian 
Church. 

JSTow I wish to call special attention to the fact that such a case can 
never be cited as an illustration of the special power of God, without the 
fear of 'contradiction, based upon apparent reason. The unbeliever either 
in or out of the church, says that we cannot possibly prove any interference 
with the laws of nature. The physician was on hand, and his medicine 
had been administered. The very tendency of these remedies was to clear 
out the throat ; and when this very result was accomplished, why not 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 27 

credit it to the physician ? Even in the case of a remarkable physical 
transformation, as the straightening of a curved spine, the same reason- 
ing prevails ; for have not physicians often succeeded in such cases ? The 
devout Christian is perfectly willing to concede that God did the work 
potentially, and that the patient would have died without the divine 
interference ; but he believes that it was done through the legitimate chan^ 
nels of the means used by the nurse and physician. 

With none of these theories and belief s have we anything whatever to 
do. The position to be stated and sustained in this chapter is, that God 
now heals bodily sickness, precisely as He now heals soul sickness, by His 
power alone, unaided by any means whatever; and that He does it through 
and by virtue of the perfect Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

I do not propose to burden this little work with numerous instances of 
healing. Any one who is skeptical is referred to " Pastor Blumhardt," 
"Faith Cures," "The Great Physician," "Dorothea Triidel," "Healing of 
Sickness by Scriptural Means," " Prayer of Faith," etc., all of which can 
be obtained from the Willard Tract ^Repositories in Boston, New York, or 
Philadelphia. I can never speak or write upon this subject, however, 
without giving my personal testimony. Three able physicians in Balti- 
more, and two in Philadelphia, agreed in pronouncing my trouble to be 
heart disease, and incurable ; although they all hoped to benefit me. In 
this respect, however they all failed. After seven years of sickness I con- 
secrated all to God, believed His word, called upon His servant, Dr. Chas. 
Cullis, and was prayed with according to James v., 14, 15, with the laying 
on of hands and the anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. From 
that day to this — over eight years — I have never touched any form of 
medicine or remedy. Praise the dear Lord alone ! I am well. I do 
more work than I ever did before, look to Him alone for strength and 
health, and He never leaves me nor forsakes me. For full particulars of 
my case, see " Miracles of Healing" and the Appendix to this book. 
Of course I understand that the doubter will say that there is no absolute 
proof of miraculous intervention. While it is true the doctors can not get 
the glory, yet my imagination, force of will, etc., did the thing for me ; and 
probably the doctors were mistaken in their diagnosis, as they often are. 

For those who ask for still more convincing evidence of modern mir- 
acles of healing, I suggest the reading of the case of a broken arm,* 

* This case has gained considerable notoriety through the attempted denial of its correct- 
ness by the subject himself, Dr. Carl H. Reed, of Philadelphia. This denial is published ia 
a little pamphlet against " Faith Cures," issued by Dr. James Hendrie Lloyd, of the 
Pennsylvania University. The young man says : 

"Dear Sir: Tbe case you cite, when robbed of all its sensational surroundings, is as 
follows : 

" The child was a spoiled youngster who would have his own way, and when he had a 
'green stick ' fracture of the forearm, and having had it bandaged for several days, con- 
cluded he would much prefer going witlwut a splint. ... 

" To please the spoiled child the splint was removed and the arm carefully adjusted in a 



28 DIVINE EEALim. 

restored in a single night, recorded in " The Great Physician," and " Doro- 
thea Triidel," and of the numerous cases found in the " Life of Pastor 
Blumhardt," and in the two volumes of " Faith Cures," by Dr. Cullis. 

These will suffice. I unhesitatingly assert that the evidence for the 
miraculous healing of disease through faith in Jesus, is every whit as clear 
and undeniable as is the evidence of the conversion of any soul in the last 
eighteen hundred years. How do you come to believe that a soul is truly 
converted ? By the profession of faith in Jesus, and by the visible change 
in the outward life. How do you know that a sick body has been healed 
by the power of Jesus ? By the evident change in the physical life, and 
by the profession of faith m the Healer. Trie evidence is precisely the 
same. " One thing I know, that whereas I was blind, now I see," is a 
kind of testimony that never has been and never can be successfully 
answered. The Lord takes care to provide such overwhelming manifes- 
tations of His power that even the " magicians can not do so with their 
enchantments." In our day, however, men, and Christians, even, have 
found a way of " withstanding," that exceeds Jannes and Jambres them- 
selves. They refuse to accept the more ordinary testimonies of healing, 
attributing the results to the power of will and imagination.* They 
incredulously ask for absolute physical evidence, such as the reuniting of 
a broken limb, but when this is given, as above, the prompt reply is a flat 
' I don't believe it." f 

sling. As a matter of course, the bone soon united, as is customary in children, and being 
only partially broken, of course all the sooner. This is the miracle ! 

"Some nurse, or crank, or religious enthusiast, ignorant of matters physiological and 
histological, evidently started the story, and unfortunately my name— for I am the party — is 
being circulated in circles of faith curites, and is given the sort of notoriety I do not crave. 
"I have been pestered with letters on the subject from ministers and members of the 
fraternity, who seek to rob us of our patients, but have consigned all such letters to 
my waste-basket. ... 1 take pleasure in giving you these few notes, trusting they 
will satisfy your mind in regard to this example, of faith-cure. 

" Very respectfully yours, " Cael H. Reed." 

The feeling of foolish shame which so obviously animated the writer of this note is 
to be sincerely mourned by every Christian reader of the simple narrative of the wonder- 
ful cure as related "in the two books referred to; and the rashness of the denial win be 
most painfully apparent when I state that the "nurse, or crank, or religious enthusiast, 
ignorant of matters physiological and histological," who "started the story," was his own 
father, himself a physician of wide experience, who personally related the incident, a short 
time after its occurrence, to Dr. Cullis, just as it is recorded in "Dorothea Triidel," and 
to Dr. Boardman, just as it is found in "The Great Physician." 

* The new school of "mind physicians" in Boston, and elsewhere, is already referred 
to by Christians as proof that healing is only the result of mental power. 

f I once said to a prominent Presbyterian clergyman of Philadelphia : Doctor, what would 
you say if I told you that for seven years I suffered from chronic heart disease, and that for 
seven years I have been well, in answer to the prayer of faith ? 

He promptly replied, "I say that if you had the heart disease, I don't believe you are 
well, and if you are well, I don't believe you ever had it." 

Such unbelief as that is simply invincible. Even the Pharisees of Peter's day did not go 
quite so far. They admitted that a great miracle had been done, and could not be denied ; 
but studied to prevent the spread of the new faith. See Acts iv. 17. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 29 

This is the root of the whole opposition — unbelief. The absolute ten- 
dency of the natural heart is to oppose God at any and every possible 
point. This is the real secret of the partial acceptance of the wretched 
and absurd theory of evolution by so many Christians. A so-called natu- 
ral cause is assigned for a result, previously accredited to the miraculous 
power of God. In fact it may be safely asserted that the leading tendency 
of the world to-day, is to minify God's power. (We are living in an age 
when it is fashionable and popular to favor d^ijunti-miraculous theory 
that can possibly trumped up.\ • The devil has forced upon the world a pet 
phrase, until it has become a proverb : (The days of miracles have passed. 
And most people regard this proverb as much more authentic than any 
old King Solomon ever wrote. We find recorded in the sayings of the 
wise man, such as these : " My son, attend to my words : . . . For they 
are life unto those that find them, and health to all their flesh." Pro v. 
iv. 20, 22. " For by me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of 
thy life shall be increased." Prov. ix. 11. " Why shouldest thou die be- 
fore thy time % " Eccles. vii. 17. But the number who are willing to take 
God's word at its face value, without any discount, is exceedingly small. 
A man, who calls himself a minister of the gospel, recently stated in his 
pulpit that " nobody nowadays, except the unintelligent \ thinks of believ- 
ing the Bible to be an inspired book." 

f Men don't believe in a devil now, 
\ As their father's used to do; 
'They've forced the door of the broadest creed, 
To let his majesty through." 

expresses the sentiment of a large portion of the "intelligent" church 
goers of our day. Truly the tree of knowledge has always proved a 
dangerous possession^) 

In face of all this skepticism, however, there are many Christians who 
will freely admit that God has done many wonderful things in answer to 
prayer, and that the like may be expected to occur again. But they as- 
sure us that such cases are sporadic, and do not afford the least foundation 
for the belief in a general theory of healing through faith. They even 
seek to explain these events by the supposed operations of certain natural 
laws. 

JSTow let us honestly consider this matter of seeking to explain miracles. 
I do not hesitate to pronounce any such attempt as radically wrong, and 
as very dangerous to the spirit of childlike faith, without which, Jesus 
said, we cannot enter the kingdom. When the late General O. M. Mit- 
chell delivered his eloquent astronomical lectures throughout the country, 
he sought to present a possible scientific theory for the miracle of the 
sun's stoppage at the command of Joshua. He showed that it could 
have been done without arresting the revolution of the earth, by simply 
condensing the atmosphere, and thereby vastly increasing its refractive 
powers. I do not wholly condemn such a theoretical explanation, but on 



30 DIVINE HEALING. 

the contrary, heartily approve of it, provided it is used in its legitimate 
place. The only real use for any of these so-called reconciliations of 
science and Scripture, is to prepare the way in the natural heart of an 
unbeliever for the faith that must follow, and to afford the Christian a 
confirmation of the truth that God is perfect harmony. Host men stum- 
ble over their heads with such persistency that they must be knocked 
down, like Paul, upon their own chosen pathway, and positively stricken 
blind or dumb, before they can receive the simple truth<* But the moment 
any soul that has been to the fountain of cleansing for the pardon of sin, 
and has been adopted into the family of God, seeks to find a more inti- 
mate knowledge of God, and to see more of His deep things, all such 
" explanations" must be thrown away. " The entrance of thy word giveth 
light," is the only efficacious recipe. A " son of God" must he content to 
take his Father's word without any endorsement* 

It is entirely possible and even extremely probable, that all the miracles 
of the Bible were performed by God, through laws just as absolute and 
inf allible as the attraction of gravitation itself. I have no doubt whatever 
that, if the Lord saw fit to explain to me just how He severed the lower 
waters of the Jordan from those that came down from above, I would 
understand it just as clearly and as scientifically as I do the statement 
that, " the Lord caused the Ked Sea to go back by a strong east wind 
all that night." Divine wisdom saw fit to tell us the modus operandi of 
this miracle, but not of the other. When Henry Yarley went into Cap- 
tain Black's cabin and, kneeling down with him and his officers, prayed 
God to stop the terrible cyclone, which threatened them with speedy 
death ; who could have imagined any natural law, by which the natural 
results of those terrific waves could be averted ? Yet, while he prayed, a 
mighty hail-storm beat the dashing billows as smooth as though they were 
covered with oil, and the terrible wind fell calm. Even so, I believe that 
the opening of the deaf ears, the raising of the dead, the healing of the 
broken arm, and all the list of miraculous works of God are certainly and 
clearly explicable by natural laws, and that there is no such thing in God's 
universe as the temporary abolition of His established principles. In order 
to stop those waves God did not annihilate the laws of momentum and 
inertia, but actually used these very principles to accomplish the result. 
Left to themselves those waves would have continued to break long enough 
to demolish the vessel ; but Omnipotence used the momentum of the frozen 
hail to check the momentum of the liquid water. God can insert an unseen 
key in the great clock of the stars and wheel them backwards in their 
orbits, as easily as I can in the same manner, reverse the hands of my 
watch. The natural law of gravity ordains that the boat shall float with 
the stream, but the natural law of the steam's expansive force propels the 

* When a Christian reads such grand "explanations" as Prof. Vail' s " Annular Theory 
of the Creation and Deluge," and receives therefrom new ideas of God's wonderful 
power and perfectly harmonious work, all is well. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 31 

vessel in the opposite direction. The natural law of motion insists that a 
body shall move in a straight line, yet the natural law of the peculiar 
twists imparted to the base-ball, actually causes it to curve, first to the 
right and then to the left ; and for a similar reason the twisting rifle-ball 
turns from its proper course. Every time a bird flies, an animal moves, 
or a piece of machinery is put in motion, we have before our eyes just as 
much a "violation" of natural law, as when God's hand parted the 
crystal gates of the sea for the marching hosts of Israel. In other words, 
we see an example of one natural law dominating another. 

But, all this being admitted, I still insist that any attempt at an ex- 
planation of a miracle, which God has not seen fit to explain, is dangerous 
to an advancing faith. We should of course settle the great fact that 
" all things are possible with God," but it is not necessary to stumble over 
apparent or imaginary contradictions in order to reach a little of the 
" all things possible to him that believeth." We are to believe God 
blindly it is true — that is faith — but we are not required to believe un- 
reasonably. I am asked, how can the Lord heal a fatal case of sickness 
without flying in the face of law? I answer, how. could he stop a 
cyclone ? My belief thus becomes perfectly reasonable, while it is per- 
fectly blind, as all absolute faith must be. Mcodemus has an enormous 
family, who are always betraying their descent by the question, " How 
can these things be ?" When the doubting ministers said, " How can we 
hope to accomplish anything in India ;"/Hhe soldier Duke of Wellington, 
replied, " That is none of your business.^- You have your marching orders, 
' Go ye into all the world, and preach my gospel to every creature.' You 
have nothing to do with the results ; obey your orders. '£? Nicodemus was 
not an infidel, but a godly man ; and whenever the true Christian asks 
Nicodemns' question after God's word, he is sure to miss the power of 
that word. 

Many a Christian almost indignantly resents the imputation that he 
does not believe God just as much as any other man ; but of course his 
belief is absolutely governed by his light. If I say to him, I believe what 
God says ; he responds, so do I. But when I adduce certain promises of 
Scripture for faith healing, he immediately insists upon confining them to 
the Apostolic age, or gives them a forced spiritual interpretation, entirely 
at variance with the plain sense of the language. Yet he says he believes 
God as much as I do. Manifestly, if I am right, he does not believe as 
much as I, but stops short at the limit of the light he has received. I always 
praise the Lord for that word of Holy Writ, " Knowing this first that no 
prophecy of the Scripture is of any private interpretation. For the 
prophecy came not in old time by the will of man (no prophecy ever came 
by the will of man, Kev. Yer.) : but holy men of old spake as they were 
moved by the Holy Ghost." 2 Pet. i. 20, 21. 

We thus come face to face with those words of power and ex- 
ecutive ability first recorded in Gen. i. 3. "God said." When Jesus 



32 DIVINE HEALING. 

was tempted of the devil, his only answer was, "It is written," and so Paul 
only gives us a single weapon 01 offense — " the sword of the Spirit, which 
is the word of God." we need various pieces of armour for defense ; 
the helmet, shield, and breast-plate ; but when we seek to advance from 
one battle-field to another, when we sally forth to win a new victory over 
the foe, we need a sword, and that sword is always the same that formed 
from chaos the rolling worlds — "God said." This "Word was in the 
beginning with God, and the word was God," and "in Him was light and 
the light was the life of men." This is the Word whose " entrance giveth 
light." Let us always remember the simple recipe for faith — "Faith 
cometh by hearing, and hearing by tho Word of God." Kom. x. 17. 

We now come, in logical sequence, to the question, what hath God 
said on the subject of healing bodily disease? Let it be borne in mind 
that I am not writing this chapter merely to prove that some people have 
been healed, but to show that the Atonement of Jesus Christ actually 
embraced sickness as well as sin : in short, that God is ready to heal any 
disease through faith, just as He heals sin through faith. 

In Gen. xviii. we read of God's promise to heal Sarah of a physical 
infirmity ; and, although twenty-five years elapsed before the work was 
accomplished, yet it was done "through faith." See Heb. xi. 11. In 
Gen. xx. 7-17, we find God directing Abimelech to go not to the physicans, 
but to the prophet Abraham for the prayer of faith ; and in answer to 
that prayer his whole household was nealed. Some years after we read 
of Isaac's prayer for his wife, " and the Lord was intreated of him." Gen. 
xxv. 21 ; and later still Jacob indignantly rejected the thought that any- 
one but God could act as a physician. See Gen. xxx. 1, 2. 

After two hundred years their descendents passed through the crystal 
gates of the Eed Sea, and sang God's praises for the greatest national 
deliverance in all history. Here, upon the very threshold of their new 
life Jehovah gave them a distinct promise which for clearness cannot be 
excelled in Scripture. " If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the 
Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give 
ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of 
these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For 
I am the Lord that healeth thee (or, the Lord thy healer)." Ex. xv. 26. 

After a short time, during which the Israelites proved that even in 
battle God alone is the disposer of results, for only when Moses' hands 
were held up did they prevail; they came to Sinai, and received the 
decalogue. Here we find a distinct promise of health and life, condition- 
ed on obedience. 

1. " Honor thy father and thy mother, as the Lord thy God hath com- 
manded thee ; that thy days may be prolonged, and that it may go well 
with thee, in the land which the Lord thy God giveth thee." — Deut. v. 16. 
"The first commandment with promise," promises what? Simply 
physical life as a consequence of obeying God in honoring our parents. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 33 

But physical life and our experience " in the land" are under the " natural 
laws." Here then in the decalogue itself we find the fundamental truth 
that God will physically preserve the obedient. I praise the dear Lord 
for this grand evidence that the remission of sickness was included in His 
plan. The only commandment that carries a distinct promise, assures us 
that life and prosperity alike are from God alone. 

2. Deut. v. 33 : " Ye shall walk in all the ways which the Lord your 
God hath commanded you, that ye may live, and that it may be well with 
you, and that ye may prolong your days in the land which ye shall pos- 
sess." See also Deut. iv. 40 ; xii. 25-28 ; xxii. 7. Eph. vi. 3. After 
reading all these texts we certainly see that physical life was most 
emphatically promised to God's obedient children. Much could be said 
upon this, but we pass on. 

3. Deut. vii. 12-15. " Wherefore it shall come to pass, if ye hearken 
to these judgments and keep and do them, that the Lord thy God shall 
keep unto thee the covenant and the mercy which he swore unto thy 
fathers : And he will love thee, and bless thee, and multiply thee ; he 
will also bless the fruit of thy womb, add the fruit of thy land, thy corn, 
and thy wine, and thine oil, the increase of thy kine, and the flocks of 
thy sheep in, the land which he sware unto thy fathers to give thee, * * 
there shall not be male or female barren among you, or among your cat^ 
tie. And the Lord will take away from thee all sickness, and will put 
none of the evil diseases of Egypt, which thou knowest, upon thee; 
but will lay them upon all them that hate thee." 

Here we have a general collection of physical benefits to be directly 
conferred by the Lord. Surely barrenness, corn, wine, oil and the increase 
of flocks are all under " natural laws" ; yet here we find them placed 
absolutely under the great law of love and obedience. The fifteenth verse 
is specially conclusive. " The Lord shall take away from thee all sick- 
ness." Could anything be plainer than that % It is absolutely certain 
that the Israelites had a law of entire exemption from sickness. But God 
is the same to-day ; and the only ground for any benefit to fallen man lies 
m the Atonement of Jesus Christ. 

4. Deut. xxviii. 15-61. " If thou wilt not hearken," etc., . . . . " the 
Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of thy seed, even 
great plagues and of long continuance and sore sickness and of long con- 
tinuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the diseases of Egypt 
which thou wast afraid of ; and they shall cleave unto thee. Also every 
sickness, and every plague, which is not written in the book of this law, 
them will the Lord bring {cause to ascend : margin. Query. Ascend from 
the pit of hell ?) upon thee until thou be destroyed." See entire chapter, 
as also xxix. 22-24. These lengthy declarations of the great Jewish law- 
giver are certainly conclusive. Again and again was the plain law of 
physical health laid down ; and the language admits of no alteration, or 
turning from the literal sense. If they served God, He would by His 



34: DIVINE HEALING. 

power keep off the evil diseases of every kind, whether named or not. If 
they served Satan and the flesh, He would "cause" sickness " to ascend" 
upon them. /The great trouble to-day is that so many people believe we 
have a different God, and that the great principles of His government 
passed out of use with the Mosaic ritual. "* This law of health was not 
ritualistic, it was a fundamental principle based upon the eternal equity of 
an unchangeable God. (And He who " hath reserved better things for 
us," is " the same yesterday, to-day and forever. "J This entire charge 
from the lips of Moses, is wonderfully forcible ana clear upon the point 
that God meant to take care of the body as well as the soul. 

The narration of the wanderings furnishes us with some marked illus- 
trations of this close parallel. The wonderful promise just quoted from 
Exodus xv. 26, was given immediately after the wonderful deliverance at 
the Ked Sea. At Sinai they greatly sinned, and were plagued according- 
ly ; but were healed in answer to the prayer of Moses. Again, they lusted 
for flesh, and pestilence fell upon them. Miriam sinned and was stricken 
with leprosy, only to be healed through prayer. In the thirteenth and 
fourteenth chapters of Numbers we have a most significant history. The 
people had come to Kadesh-barnea, the spies went out and returned with 
an evil report. The nation believed the skeptics and doubted God, and as 
a consequence were condemned to wander and die in the wilderness, 
while the plague destroyed the fearful spies. Then follows that mar- 
vellous dramatic picture in Numbers 16th, when Korah and his followers 
sank into the earth, and Aaron stood " between the dead and the living," 
with swinging censer, obeying Moses' order to "make an atonement" for the 
congregation; "and the plague was stayed." In Numbers xxi, we have 
the story of the Brazen Serpent. The people sick and dying with bodily 
pains, were told to look and live. Here we have the Atonement most 
strongly and beautifully set forth. "As Moses lifted up the serpent in the 
wilderness, even so must I be lifted up, that whosoever believeth in me, 
should not perish but have everlasting life." These were types to be sure; 
but were they only types, and nothing more ? 

5. In Deut.xxxii : 39, we find a most unequivocal declaration. Jehovah 
contrasts himself with the gods of the heathen, and as a distinguishing 
mark of his supremacy he says ; " see now that I, even I, am he, and there 
is no God with me: I kill and I make alive ; I wound, and I heal." And a 
little further we find the significant expression concerning strict obedience 
to Gods laws : " For it is not a vain thing for you: because it is your life : 
and through this thing he shall prolong your days in the land." In the 
same sense we read 1 Sam. ii. 6 : " The Lord killeth and maketh alive ; he 
bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." Well could Moses close his 
wonderful prophetic blessings with the assurance, " The Eternal God is 
thy refuge, and underneath are the everlasting arms, and he shall thrust 
out the enemy from before thee ; and shall say, Destroy them. Israel then 
shall dwell in safety. . . . Happy art them, O Israel ; who is like unto 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 35 

thee, O people saved by the Lord, the shield of thy help, and the sword of 
thy excellency." 

6. Even the Philistines seem to have comprehended that the God of 
Israel was the great Physician, for when they sent back the ark " they 
said, if ye send away the ark of the God of Israel, send it not empty ; but 
in any wise return him a trespass offering ; then ye shall be healed, and it 
shall be known to you why nis hand is not removed from you." 1 Sam. 
vi. 3. This is strong testimony from the surrounding heathen, that the 
Jews sought and received physical healing from the Lord, and through a 
" trespass offering." 

7. God made a specific promise to Solomon of life, conditioned on 
obedience. " And if thou wilt walk in my ways, to keep my statutes and 
my commandments, as thy father David did walk, then I will lengthen 
thy days." 1 Kings hi. 14. Again in 2Chron. vii. 12-14, we read, "And 
the Lord appeared to Solomon by night, and said unto him, I have heard 
thy prayer, and have chosen this place to myself for an house of sacrifice. 
If I shut up heaven that there be no rain ; or I command the locusts to 
devour the land, or if I send pestilence among my people. If my people 
which are called by my name shall humble themselves, and pray, and seek 
my face, and turn from their wicked ways ; then will I hear from heaven, 
and will forgive their sin, and will heal their land." Two things in this 
gracious promise suggest the words of James. The assurance is given to 
" my people," just as the Apostle says " any among you " (the believers in 
the " twelve tribes scattered abroad ") ; and the connection between the 
healing and the forgiveness of sin. " I will forgive their sin, and will heal 
their land," is exactly parallel to "the Lord shall raise him up, and if he 
have committed sins they shall be for^given him." The forgiveness of 
sin turns solely upon the Atonement ; and here the inference is very plain, 
that the sickness should be removed in the same way and for the same 
reason that the sin was forgiven. The condition prefixed makes this still 
more forcible. " If my people .... shall humble themselves and pray 
and seek my face, and turn from their wicked ways." Now we know 
that when a man humbles himself, turns from his sins and seeks God's face, 
he is forgiven. But how? Solely through the merits of the vicarious Atone- 
ment. But here we see the same conditions set for bodily healing. How 
irresistible then the conclusion that bodily healing was based upon the 
same wonderful sacrifice ? 

8. Naaman and Hezekiah. The cases of these two men serve to illus- 
trate the scripture doctrine of Divine Healing in a striking manner. The 
great general must needs learn the lesson — always so hard to remember — 
of simple unquestioning obedience. He who was accustomed to issue 
orders the most peremptory, whose disobedience he would have punished 
by death, had to step down into the same humble sphere, and dip in Jor- 
dan, not because there was any healing property in it, but simply because 
God said, do it. "When he surrendred unconditionally, self died, and the 



36 DIVINE HEALING. 

divine touch gave health and strength. Many a general upon the field of 
polemics to-day finds the laying on of hands and the anointing with oil, 
much greater stumbling-blocks than the muddy Jordan was to Naaman. 
Would that they might profit by his example. 

In the case of Hezekiah we have the significant fact at the beginning 
that even after an inspired prophet brought the message " thou shalt die," 
importunate prayer speedily prevailed to the extent of a complete reversal, 
and the Lord wrought a miracle in nature, and a miracle of healing for 
the good king. But, we read that " Hezekiah rendered not again accord- 
ing to the benefit done unto him," in that when the King of Babylon 
"had heard that Hezekiah had been sick," and "sent unto him to enquire 
of the wonder that was done in the land" he did not testify as he should 
have done to God's healing power, but entertained the ambassadors with 
the spectacle of his own wealth and greatness. 2 Chr. xxxii. 31. 

The lesson is very sharp and clear as read in these two biographies. The 
most absolute self-renunciation and simple obedience in order to receive. 
The most perfect humility and lifting up of God alone in order to retain. 
" Some great thing " gives opportunity to display our strength and skill ; 
but a baby can simply obey without understanding the reason. (''Great 
wealth, gifts, or scientific skill brings man to the front, but only the child 
can innocently ignore self and say, " my father did it alL'K 

9. The 33d chapter of Job is very strong and clear, but as it is re- 
ferred to elsewhere, we will omit an analysis here. 

10. David knew a great deal about faith-healing. Hear a few of his 
utterances upon the subject. Ps. vi. 2, " Have mercy upon me, O Lord ; 
for I am weak : O Lord, heal me ; for my bones are vexed." Verse 5 
shows that he spoke of physical trouble. "For in death there is no 
rememberance of thee : in the grave who shall give thee thanks ?" Then 
in verse 9 he gives this experience. " The Lord hath heard my supplica- 
tion ; the Lord will receive my prayer." Again in Ps. xli. 2. " The Lord 
will strengthen him (he that considereth the poor ;) thou wilt make all his 
bed in his sickness." In Ps. lxxviii. 20-22, we find the idea suggested that 
God expects us to use the means, and only the means, which He has 
commanded. Moses smote the rock when God said "speak ye to the 
rock," and David declares, " therefore the Lord was wroth ... be- 
cause they believed not in God, and trusted not in his salvation." The 
best medicine I can use is the simple word in Jas. v. 14, 15 ; and when I 
do as God commands, I trust only in His salvation and best honor him. 
As Dorothea Triidel so beautifully wrote: "we honor God most by 
believing His word." 

11. Ps. xci. ; What Christian does not love to read this magnificent 
poem ? But how many Christians dare to believe it ? I declare my firm 
conviction that no honest man can sit down and study this psalm in the 
light of what we have already considered, asking himself honestly the 
question, what does it really mean % without being satisfied that he has 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 37 

not realized the literalness of God's salvation as fully as he ought. I give 
Young's translation in full ; but do not fail, dear reader, to compare the 
regular version with it. 

1. "He who is dwelling 

In the secret place of the Most High, 

In the shade of the Mighty lodgeth habitually, 

2. "He is saying of Jehovah, 

My refuge and my bulwark, my God, I trust in Him, 

3. " For He delivereth thee from the snare of a fowler, 

From a calamitous pestilence. 

4. " With His pinion He covereth thee over, 

And under His wings thou dost trust, 
A shield and a buckler is His truth. 

5. " Thou art not afraid of fear by night, 

Of arrow that fiieth by day, 

6. "Of pestilence in thick darkness that walketh, 

Of destruction that destroyeth at noon, 

7. " There fall at thy side a thousand, 

And a myriad at thy right hand, 
Unto thee it cometh not nigh. 

8. " But with thine eyes thou lookest, 

And the reward of the wicked thou seest, 

9. " (For thou, O Jehovah, art my refuge,) 

The Most High thou makest thy habitation. 

10. " Evil happeneth not unto thee, 

And a plague cometh not near thy tent, 

11. " For his messengers He chargeth for thee, 

To keep thee in all thy ways, 

12. " On the hands they bear thee up, 

Lest thou smite against a stone thy foot. 

13. " On lion and asp thou treadest, 

Thou trampest young lion and dragon. 

14. " Because in Me he hath delighted, 

I also deliver him — I set him on high, 
Because He hath known My name. 

15. " He doth call Me, and I answer him, 

I am with him in distress, 
I deliver him, and honor him. 

1(5. " With length of days I satisfy him, 

And I cause him to look on my salvation." 



38 DIVINE HEALING. 

Now in the light of reason and common sense, what did the Psalmist 
mean by all this % "When we read " A shield and buckler is his truth," 
we say, certainly, we believe that. " Thou art not afraid of fear by 
night;" we believe that. " Of pestilence," or " a plague cometh not near 
thy tent;" well, that is a figure of speech. Is this the way to read God's 
"Word ! What can be said of " "With length of days I satisfy him, and I 
cause him to look on my salvation V The last part is not a figure ; then 
is the first? We might very profitably discuss the entire pslam, one 
verse at a time ; but I do not wish to do more than bring clearly before 
the mind the great fact that this glorious psalm distinctly promises physi- 
cal health and immunity from sickness to — and here is the great point — 
the man who " is dwelling in the secret place of the Most xligh, in the 
shade of the Mighty lodgeth habitually." These wonderful promises then 
are to him who is always dwelling and always abiding in Christ, or 
" under the shadow of the Most High." Just here we see the weakness 
of the devil's famous quotation of Scripture to the tempted Saviour. 
" He will give his angels charge concerning thee, and in their hands they 
shall bear thee up lest thou dash thy foot against a stone." Who is the 
" thee " referred to ? He who abideth continually in God. If any man 
ventures to disregard all the laws of God concerning health and safety, 
expecting to be kept from injury, he is guilty of gross presumption, and 
does exactly what Satan tempted Jesus to do. The moment anyone 
presumes upon a promise of God, that moment he steps out from the 
" shadow of the Most High," and the 91st Psalm is not for him. So we 
must be exceedingly careful not to let an excess of zeal persuade us to act 
in defiance of the laws of a well proportioned physical endurance. There 
are times *and seasons when God lays extraordinary work upon His 
servants, but in such cases extraordinary strength is granted, and the 
Spirit makes the necessity very clear. Moses fasted forty days upon two 
occasions, and Philip was caught away from the Eunuch, while Elijah 
" girded up his lions and ran before Ahab " to the gate of Samaria. But 
these are rare exceptions, and must be left entirely in the sphere of the 
special guidance of the Spirit — a sphere at once the most delicate and 
dangerous to ambitiously explore, — or criticise. 

12. Ps. ciii. 1-5. The third verse is best rendered as in Young, 

" Who is forgiving all thine inqiuities. 
Who is healing all thy diseases." 

David calls upon his soul to bless the Lord, because he forgiveth all his 
iniquities. How does God forgive sin ? Of course, through the Atone- 
ment of Jesus Christ. But the Psalmist, in the same breath, blesses God 
because He heals all his diseases. How does God heal sickness ? O, by 
the skill of human physicians ! A perfectly candid mind must allow that 
there is not the least a priori evidence in the text for any such conclusion. 
On the contrary, the whole weight of evidence clusters about the clear 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 39 

parallelism — iniquities and diseases, all healed by Jehovah. No man, 
without the natural prejudices of education, would dream of necessarily 
calling in an agent in one case, any more than the other. If God forgives 
the iniquities, then God heals the diseases. The only agent needed is the 
blood of Christ. 

13. Ps. cvii. This entire psalm may be read with profit. The head 
lines declare that it speaks of " God's providences over travelers, over 
captives, over sick men, over seamen, and in divers varieties of life." In 
verse 6, we read of the travelers " Then they cried unto the Lord in their 
trouble, and he delivered them out of their distresses." In verse 13, we 
read precisely the same words of the captives. In verse 28, the same 
words speak of the deliverance of seamen. Now surely all these are 
literal and not figures of speech. But verse 19 gives exactly the same 
deliverance to the sick. As if this were not enough the Psalmist adds another 
assurance, not given to traveler, captive or sailor. In these cases the 
deliverance is declared, but the manner of that deliverance is not 
specified. When he speaks of the sick, however, the method and 
means of healing are distinctly pointed out. " He sent his word and 
healed them, and delivered them from their destructions." Praise the 
Lord! for this straightforward statement. The traveler is "led 
forth"; the captive "brought out"; the seamen "brought unto the 
haven ; " but not a word is said of the means employed. But when the 
sick are " saved out of their distresses," then we have the way set forth. 
" He sent his word and healed them." How well this accords with the 
declaration of John of the Eternal Word, that " In him was life ; and the 
life was the light of men." John i. 4. Again we read, " And this life is 
in his Son. He«that hath the Son hath life." 1 John v. 11, 12. All agree 
that Jesus will give life to the body eventually, but fail to see the privi- 
lege of present life in the sense of health. 

This psalm enforces another point. " Fools because of their transgres- 
sions, and because of their iniquities are afflicted." What plainer state- 
ment could we have that sickness is the consequence of sin in some form % 
This being so apparent, how can we fail to grasp the comforting promise 
that if these same " fools " " cry unto God " even from " the gates of 
death," " he saveth them out of their distresses "? And this is followed 
directly by the declaration that the healing comes by "His Word." 
(Yet this does not say that every sickness proves a fool and a transgressor.) 
David's testimony is just to the point here, for he declares in Ps. cxix. 
50, " This is my comfort in my affliction ; for thy word hath quickened 
me." 

14. David's son seemed to have an idea that there is health in the 
Word, for he wrote, " My son, attend to my words ; incline thine ear 
unto my sayings. Let them not depart from thine eyes ; keep them in 
the midst of thine heart. For they are life unto those that find them, and 
health to all their fleshP Prov. iv. 20-22. In chap, iii, 7, 8, he says, 



40 DIVINE MEALING. 

" Fear the Lord, and depart from evil. It shall be health to thy navel, 
and marrow to thy bones." The two words rendered health are given in 
the margin, medicine. Dr. Young gives healing. The idea is evidently 
expressed by the words restorative, remedy, healing, medicine. The wise 
man wrote again, " In the way of righteousness is life." — Chap, xii., 28. 

In quoting such verses as this last I do not mean to argue that physical 
life alone is meant, but that it is certainly included in the text. " The 
fear of the Lord is a fountain of life, to depart from the snares of death." 
— Chap. xiv. 27. 

" When a man's ways please the Lord, he maketh even his enemies to 
be at peace with him." — Chap, xvi., 17. Is not disease, as the work of 
the devil, an enemy ? If I am sick I am at once anxious lest that some 
action, word or thought, or some failure to see the Spirit's leadings does 
not " please the Lord." " Wisdom giveth life to them that have it." — Ec. 
vii. 12. " Why shouldest thou die before thy time ?" — vs. IT. Evidently 
Solomon believed it possible for life to be lengthened by conformity to 
the will of God, for he wrote : " By me thy days shall be multiplied, and 
the years of thy life shall be increased ;" and again, " The fear of the 
Lord prolongeth days." — Prov. ix. 11, and x. 27. 

Who will not admit the truth of the last declaration? Even the 
statistics of life insurance prove that piety is conducive to long life. But 
how ? Is it answered, through the beneficial result of natural laws more 
carefully observed because of religion ? I reply that even this is pur- 
chased for us by the blood of Christ. The actual state of probation into 
which all men are born depends upon the Atonement, for only by virtue 
of this was and is judgment suspended. 

15. In Isaiah xxxiii. 24, we read of a time when in Zion " the inhabit- 
ant shall not say I am sick ; the people that dwell therein shall be f or- 
fiven their iniquity." Here it avails nothing to claim a reference to the 
lillennium for the coupling together of healing with forgiveness is too 
marked to be overlooked. And then we find that glorious promise, " He 
giveth power to the faint ; and to them that have no might he increaseth 
strength. Even the youths shall faint and be weary ; and the young men 
shall utterly fall : but they that wait upon the Lord shall renew their 
strength ; they shall mount up with wings as eagles, they shall run and 
not be weary ; and they shall walk and not faint." — xl. 29-31. (What 
earnest Christian does not know that again and again this supernatural 
renewal of strength is given under the most terrible trials of life, and 
therefore, that the body as well as the soul is included in the promise T^ 

16. In Isaiah liii. 4, we read, " Surely He hath borne our griefs and 
carried our sorrows." It can not be questioned that this statement is just 
as clear, comprehensive, and emphatic as, " He was wounded for our 
transgressions, he was bruised for our iniquities." In fact, were I disposed 
to stickle for a mere grammatical construction, I might claim that the 
former is the stronger of the two. It is a fact that the church has com- 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 41 

monly read this verse as if the words " griefs" and u sorrows" have refer- 
ence to afflictions of the mind and spirit ; and few have ever gone farther 
than to believe that they might apply to the comforting and sustaining 
grace given in bodily sickness. It may therefore be a matter of surprise 
to many devout Christians to be told that neither of these words has 
reference to spiritual matters, but to bodily sickness alone/ One of the 
ablest Hebraists of our country recently sent me this translation, without 
having an idea of the use to which it was to be put. 



"Surely our sicknesses hath he taken upon him, (lifted up, as a load,) and our 
sorrows, he hath carried them." 

Albert Barnes says of this verse, " In the 53d chapter of Isaiah is fully 
stated the doctrine of the Atonement, or that the Messiah was to suffer 
for sin. In the verse quoted (Matt. viii. 17 ; Isaiah liii. 4), he states the 
very truth which Matthew declares. The word translated griefs in Isaiah, 
and infirmities in Matthew, means, properly, in the Hebrew and Greek, 
diseases of the body, <_In neither does it refer to the diseases of the mind, 
or to sin.\ To bear those griefs, is clearly to bear them away, or remove 
theim— 

yOur sorrows." Perhaps the proper difference between this word and 
th(Tword translated griefs is, that this refers to the pains of the mind, 
that of the body; this to anguish, anxiety, or trouble of the soul, that to 
bodily infirmity and disease. * * * The phrase therefore properly seems 
to mean that He took upon himself the mental sorrows of men. He 
not only took their diseases and bore them away, but He also took or 
bore their mental griefs. That is, He subjected himself to the kind of 
mental sorrow which was needed in order to remove them." 

Archbishop Magee, in his great work on "The Atonement," assigns 
the same meanings to the words, and quotes many Scripture verses where 
the same original Hebrew word is so translated. The reader is referred 
to any standard commentary for additional testimony upon this point. 
But a still better authority remains. In Matt. viii. 16, 17, we read, " He 
healed all that were sick: That it might be fulfilled which was spoken by 
Esaias the prophet, saying, Himself took our infirmities, and bare our 
sicknesses." Here we have an inspired commentator, plainly declaring 
that the verse has reference to bodily ailments. We ought to render 
special praise to Jesus for this divine interpretation, for without it there 
might be some show of reason in the opposition to the doctrine herein set 
forth. These able scholars agree with Matthew that Jesus actually lifted 
up, as a load which we could not carry, our diseases and pains of body 
and mind. Barnes says : " bore them away. " The clear meaning is, that 
Jesus did take upon Himself our diseases and our mental troubles, in pre- 
cisely the same way that he " bore our sins in his own body on the tree. " 

But this fourth verse is only a portion of the evidence found in this 
wonderful chapter. We find the word " grief, " in verses 3, 4, and 10. 



42 DIVINE HEALING. 

In each case the real meaning is sickness or bodily pain. The learned 
translator, Dr. Kobert Young, in his version of the Bible, thus renders 
these verses : 

3. " He is despised, and left of men, 

A man of pains (Heb. Makob), and acquainted with sickness (Choli), 
And as one hiding the face from us, 
He is despised and we esteemed him not. 

4. ' ' Surely our sicknesses (choli) he hath borne, 

And our pains (makob) he hath carried them, 
And we — we have esteemed him plagued, 
Smitten of God and afflicted. 

5. "And he is pierced for our transgressions. 

Bruised for our iniquities, 

The chastisement of our peace is on him, 

And by his bruise there is healing to us. 

6. "All of us like sheep have wandered, 

Each to his own way we have turned, 
And Jehovah hath caused to meet on him, 
The punishment of us all. 
****** 

10. "And Jehovah hath delighted to bruise him, 
He hath made him sick (chalah) 
If his soul doth make an offering for guilt, 
He seeth seed — he prolongeth days. 
* * * * * * 

12. * * "With transgressors he was numbered, 
And he the sin of many hath borne, 
And for transgressors he intercedeth. " 

There is no escaping the force of this accurate translation. Dr. 
Young was not laboring to prove a doctrine of faith-healing, but he more 
than confirms Albert Barnes in the quotation from the latter, just given. 
The word makob, rendered sorrows in verses 3 and 4, means pains. But, 
as Barnes says, it seems to refer to " anguish, anxiety, trouble of soul, " 
or to mental pain. But the words choli and chalah, mean respectively, 
sickness, weakness, pain, and, to make sick. Yerse 3 is very strong. In 
it the prophet distinctly states that Jesus Christ was " a man of pains, 
and acquainted with sickness. " JSTo Christian living would object to the 
idea that he was a man of pains (mental sorrows), in that He actually 
suffered and endured the pangs of anguish or sorrow, even to a much 
greater extent than we ever knew. W hen " He sweat as it were great 
drops of blood, " did He not bear and feel the real weight of deadly sor- 
row ? Of course no one will think of objecting to this. But the rest of 
the verse just as distinctly avers that He was " acquainted with sickness. " 
As long as the word in English is put " grief, " the ordinary reader is not 
mystified, and passes on; but the scholar finds reason for reflection. 
W hen, however, we see that the real meaning is " sickness, weakness, 
pain, " and not grief at all, in its ordinary sense, even the common mind 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 43 

will naturally ask, what does this mean ? I reply that if the first part of 
the line means that Jesus endured mental sorrow, the latter part means 
that He actually experienced the pangs of sickness. If this is not true, 
then there is no use for God to tell us anything in language, for we can 
not possibly believe Him to mean what He says. 

One of the most learned and able Hebraists of the old country is E. 
W. Hengstenberg, doctor and professor in the theological department of 
the University of Berlin, Germany. He says in his three most excellent 
volumes, " Christology of the Old Testament and Commentary of the 
Messianical Prophecy, " that we have no right and no Scriptural grotmds 
to say that the Hebrew word " choli, " German "Erankheit, " i. e., sick- 
ness (grief) is here to be taken as figurative or typical. The word " choli, " 
sickness, (grief) includes also the wound-and-bruise pains. (1 Kings xxii. 34-35. 
Jeremiah vi. 7; x. 19. 1 Peter ii. 24.) "And through his wounds we 
are healed. " (German translation.) The 10th verse in Isaiah 53 refers 
to it, as it reads in Dr. R. Young's translation. " Yet it pleased the Lord 
to bruise (wound) him ; He hath made him sick. " 

Dr. Isaac Leeser, the able translator of the Hebrew English Bible, ren- 
ders these verses as follows : 

3. . r He was despised and shunned of men: 

A man of pains and acquainted with disease. 

4. " But only our diseases did he bear himself, 

And our pains he carried. 

5. ' ' And through his bruises was healing 

granted to us. 

10. " But the Lord was pleased to crush 
him through disease. ' ' 

Now let the objector sit calmly down and face these clear translations. 
"What will you do with them \ It is a noticeable fact that in the three 
years that have elapsed since the first edition of this book was issued, not 
one of its many opponents have ventured to discuss this chapter, oi to at- 
tempt a refutation of the argument here advanced. Indeed it may be 
said that none of the critics have ever attempted to follow the Scriptural 
logic, but have contented themselves with attacking the counterfeits and 
excrescences which have sprung up around and upon the doctrine of 
Divine-healing. Calvinists, studying cases or " phenomena " are many. 
Arminians, facing the open promises are few. 

Many devout hearts will be horrified to think that Christ was ever sick. 
But let us look upon it. ; Certain it is that Jesus never knew the inner 
principle of disease within the system, any more than He was ever actually 
poisoned with the indwelling principle of sin. There is no Scripture to 
warrant for a moment the thought that sin ever resided in the Son of God 
as a root or inward fountain of pollution. \ He was so absolutely pure and 






U DIVINE HEAIING. 

perfect that there was no place or spot wherein sin could find a lodgment 
for an instant. \ Just so no disease could ever lurk within His body. j Not- 
withstanding all this, Jesus certainly did bear our sins. He certainly did 
feel and know the povjer of sin, and endure the essence of its consequences 
and penalties ; and there is precisely the same language to warrant our be- 
lief that He also felt and endured the pangs or pains of sickness. The 
Apostle tells us " He was made sin for us, who knew no sin," and the 
Prophet says that Jehovah " hath made him sick." Peter writes : " Who 
his own self bore our sins in his own body on the tree," and Isaiah 
declares, " Surely our sicknesses he hath borne, and our pains — he hath 
carried them." But as Leeser, translates "only our sicknesses did he 
bear." 

Again, what are the punishments of sin ? All will admit that sin is 
punished by soul-condemnation, remorse, mental anxiety, and frequently 
by sickness. Now of course Jesus took upon Himself the condemnation, 
anxiety, and mental and moral anguish. All admit this, and believe that 
these punishments are at once remitted the moment we are pardoned, and 
that they are remitted because of the vicarious Atonement. Then by 
what rule of Scripture or of reason is the last mentioned punishment 
severed from the rest ? Mark the Prophet's words. "Jehovah hath caused 
to meet on him the punishment of us all." Now confessedly, sickness is part 
of that punishment. Hence it is demonstrated, by the immutable Word, 
that sickness is included in the vicarious Atonement. 

It may be claimed that sickness cannot be included, because it is under 
"natural law." (It is surely about time for Christians to learn that 
"natural law" is God's law\ Now what law can be cited, in the realm of 
physics, which is more universal and more inexorable, than that which de- 
clares that sin will surely cause anguish, anxiety, remorse and soul sick- 
ness? Is not this law just as truly "natural" as that which governs 
bodily disease ? And if God chooses to cancel the sin and remove its 
mental effects, by grace through faith ; what Christian will dare say that 
He can not just as easily remove the sickness ? Is it true that God will 
always, and at once, give deliverance from every penalty and consequence 
of sin, except one ? and that this one must inevitably remain to the bitter 
end ? Away with such a thought ! Isaiah affirms that the entire punish- 
ment of us all was caused to meet on Him. Oh ! glory to His name ! He 
testified " It is finished." There was nothing incomplete about the work 
of our mighty Jesus. 

We might follow every verse in this remarkable chapter with profit. 
"He is pierced for our transgressions." What does that mean ? Of course 
that Jesus bore the penalty of our offences, so that we do not have to bear 
it. But is the language a whit clearer than " Himself bore our sicknesses ?" 
" The chastisement of our peace is upon Him," is surely not quite so plain 
as " by His bruise there is healing for us." " He was numbered with the 
transgressors" gives light to many a despairing sinner; but is it more 



SEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 45 

explicit than, " He hath made him sick 1 " Surely, nothing but the blindest 
prejudice can close the eyes, in the light of these facts, to the great truth 
that sickness is included in the vicarious Atonement, every whit as emphat- 
ically as sin, in this great proof chapter of Isaiah. 

It may be well to caution the reader against any such blunder as that 
perpetrated by a prominent divine when he recently wrote very slightingly 
of an attempt to prove faith-healing by means of Isaiah liii, intimating 
that the whole thing is so figurative that we cannot Be sure of any special 
interpretation. Let every one remember that this wonderful chapter is the 
very pith and marrow of the Old Testament proof for the vicarious suffer- 
ings of our Lord, and has been so regarded by the church in all ages. It 
is a chapter which, of all others, most troubles the Jew and delights the 
Christian. Albert Barnes certainly did not seek to prove faith-healing 
when he said, " In the 53d chapter of Isaiah is fully stated the doctrine of 
the Atonement." And again ne said, speaking of the phrase " bore our 
sicknesses," — "To bear these ' griefs,' is clearly to bear them away, or to 
remove themP Yet he had just affirmed that the word " griefs " meant 
only "disease of the body," and did not refer at all to the mind. One 
thing I fearlessly maintain, that if the Atonement for sickness is not 
taught in this chapter, then the Atonement for sin cannot be found in it. 
I praise the dear Lord, it is all there ! A perfect work ; embracing mental 
pains and physical disease for the body ; and transgressions and inbred 
iniquity for the soul. 

JNow, why did He thus bear our sicknesses? Was it for His own 
chastisement, reproof or correction ? Did He need to bear the load of 
disease any more than the load of sin ? Then, why did He do it ? We 
have the fact that He did bear both. Why was it ? Everyone must ad- 
mit that 1 Pet. ii. 24 and Matt. viii. IT are equally plain and positive ; and 
the candid mind must be struck with the close analogy between them. 
But Peter gives us the reason for sin-bearing — " that we, being dead to 
sins, should live unto righteousness." That is, that we, being free from 
the necessity, as well as the guilt of sin, should live in soul health. Is it 
then stepping beyond the plain rules of analogy to say that Jesus bore our 
sicknesses that Ave, being dead to disease, should live unto bodily health ? 
Be cool and deliberate and let your logic come to the front. Does not 
Matthew say as much % He tells us that Jesus " healed all that were sick " 
in order to fulfill the Scripture, which of all others plainly speaks of the 
Atonement. Paul says, in Eph. v. 23, " He is the Saviour of the body," * 
and we all believe that the complete fullness of salvation will never be 
realized until that wonderful day, when the reunited soul and body shall 
be glorified with Him at his appearing. The man who believes that the 
soul can never be free from sin in this life is entirely consistent in believing 
that there is no such thing as exemption from sickness of the body. But 

* This word is used 135^ times in the New Testament, and in nearly every instance refers 
to the physical body. " . 



46 DIVINE HEA LING. 

he who finds in Jesus the perfect cleansing of the sou*, and the keeping 
power against all sin, can be equally consistent in placing his body 
beneath the same wonderful salvation. 

In this connection it is a remarkable fact, that no one has been known 
to seek the healing power for the body, without receiving a distinct 
spiritual baptism ; and further, that every one known to the writer (a very 
large number), who has been entirely healed in body, is or has become a 
believer in and professor of entire sanctiiication of soul. For over eight 
years I have closely and constantly studied this subject, and observed a 
very large number of cases. It has often appeared that, after the first 
joyful experience of the healing power and the accompanying baptism of 
the Spirit, the Lord has evidently striven to lead the awakened soul into 
that absolute self-surrender which brings the full revelation of a whole 
Saviour. But this leading has been resisted. The individual has drawn 
back, and said, I cannot do this, I cannot go there, I will not believe God 
wants me to be willing to act thus and so. At once the healing power of 
the body has been arrested, and very often a speedy relapse, either in 
whole or in part, has followed. Thjs is the plain secret of a great many 
apparent failures in* faith-healing, t If I start out to take Jesus Christ for 
a whole Saviour, there must be no possible reservation.^' I must be willing 
to confess and to profess, to be, to do, or to suffer anything, anywhere, in 
any way whatever, without a particle of hesitation. 

It is noticeable that a text which is often quoted for the soul, ' ' This is 
the will of God, even your sanctification, " — 1 Thess. iv. 3, has no reference 
to spiritual matters, but to those bodily sins which, of all others, most 
frequently induce severe bodily disease.* This closely agrees with the 
old promise to Israel, ' ' If thou wilt diligently hearken to the voice of the 
Lord thy God, and wilt do that which is right in his sight, and wilt give 
ear to his commandments, and keep all his statutes, I will put none of 
these diseases upon thee, which I have brought upon the Egyptians. For 
I am the Lord that healeth thee (or the Lord, thy healer)." — Ex. xv. 26. 
Here we see, distinctly joined together, the entire consecration and devo- 
tion of soul, with the health of body. What could be plainer? So we find 
God speaking frequently to His people: — "I will take sickness away 
from the midst of thee." — Ex. xxiii. 25. "The Lord will take away from 
thee all sickness. ' ' — Deut. vii. 15. "I make alive . . . and I heal. ' ' — Deut. 
xxxii. 39. That these promises were literally fulfilled, we have the word 
of the Psalmist, who tells us of the wandering people of God: "There 
was not one feeble (sick) person among their tribes."— Ps. cv. 37. "He 

*If a text be desired that expresses God's will for sanctification from all sin, take Heb. x. 

9, 10: " Then said he, Lo, I come to do thy will, O God By the which will we are 

sanctified, through the offering of the body of Jesus Christ once for all." There can be no 
doubt in this case as to the application of th. word. The whole Epistle to the Hebrews is, in 
fact, a clear, consecutive treatise and argument on entire sanctification. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 47 

sent His word, and healed them." — Ps. cvii. 20. When they sinned, sick- 
ness came. When they repented, sickness departed. 

When the types of the Old Testament taught healing, as the brazen 
serpent, the swinging incense " between the living and the dead," the 
cleansing of the leper, etc., it is certainly a retrograde step to curtail the 
antitype and place it on lower ground. It is at once illogical and un- 
warranted. 

Before leaving Isaiah we must read God's promise to the penitent, " I 
have seen his ways, and will heal him. I will lead him also, and restore 
comforts unto him and to his mourner. — " lvii. 18. And again we read: 
"Then shall thy light break forth as the morning, and thine health shall 
spring forth speedily; and thy righteousness shall go before thee; the 
glory of the Lord shall be thy reward. — " lviii. 8. When is this to be? "If 
thou take away from the midst of thee the yoke, the putting forth of the 
finger, and speaking vanity." In other words, if you wholly obey God. 
The condition is plain, and always the same. 

17. Jeremiah prayed, " Heal me, O Lord, and I shall be healed ; save 
me and I shall be saved." — xvii. 14. Here again we see the health of soul 
and body coupled together, and the true power of restoration attributed 
to God alone. 

" Is there no balm in Gilead ? is there no physician there ? why then is 
not the health of the daughter of my people recovered?" — viii. 22. We 
have only to read the context to see that disobedience was the only cause. 

" Thus saith the Lord ; cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and 
maketh flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. Blessed 
is the man that trusteth in the Lord, and whose hope the Lord is." — xvii. 
5, 7. Will anyone maintain that this only refers to spiritual matters ? Do 
we not often see professed Christians clinging to physicians with the most 
abject abandon, and literally praying to man to save life ? The prophet em- 
phatically points to the great Physician when he says " Heal me O Lord, 
and I shall be healed." — xvii. 14. He records the declarations, " I will 
restore health unto thee, and I will heal thee of thy wounds, saith the 
Lord." — xxx. 17. " Behold, I am the Lord, the God of all flesh : is there 
anything too hard for me ?" — xxxii. 27. " Behold I will bring it health and 
cure, and I will cure them, and will reveal unto them the abundance of 
peace and truth." — xxxiii. 6. " In vain shalt thou use many medicines." 
xlvi. 11. 

These utterances can hardly be twisted out of all reference to the body* 
and let it be remembered that Jeremiah lived and wrote in degenerate 
days, when disobedience and sin were national. This effectually disposes 
of the objection that these health promises required national righteousness 

*Read the many passages in Jeremiah where God distinctly promises to remove physical 
punishments if the people would only turn to Him,keep the Sabbath and obey His laws. And 
the emphatic avowal that " because " of their disobedience all their suffering came. 



48 DIVINE HEALING.- 

before the individual could be cured. The weeping prophet's words ring 
with the challenge "Is anything too hard for me." 

18. Ezek. xxxiv. 4, 16. "The diseased have ye (the shepherds) not 
strengthened, neither have ye healed that which was sick," etc. ..... 

"I will strengthen that which was sick." The whole chapter is weighted 
with reproof to the shepherds of Israel for neglecting their duty. When 

we read, " neither have ye sought that which was lost. " "I will 

seek for that which was lost, ' ' we assent at once to its plain meaning ; but 
when we read of healing the sick we begin to think of "figures of speech. " 
When, however, we remember Jesus' commission to the twelve and to the 
seventy — "preach the gospel and heal the sick," we see that the old 
prophet may have been more literal than wo have been educated to 
believe. Possibly the modern shepherds have missed a great blessing in 
not claiming and enjoying the privilege granted in James v. 14-15, to the 
"elders of the church." I say nothing of possible reproof. In all love I 
say to the shepherds, brothers do not imagine that all these reproofs and 
terrible threatenings of Ezekiel, Zachariah and other prophets, were meant 
only for the possible priests of a period in Jewish history not thoroughly 
understood. Are you leading the sheep in the best possible pastures, are 
you preaching a full gospel ? Are you afraid Jesus Christ may become a 
little too supernatural, and get a little too much glory ? Are you fear- 
ful that the discoveries, skill and science of man may not be sufficiently 
honored? Are you ready to be "little children" before the Lord? O 
divine Master? let Thy truth enter and give light! 

19. Micah vi. 13, is exceedingly clear as to the connection between sin 
and sickness. ' ' Therefore, also will I make thee sick in smiting thee, in 
making thee desolate because of thy sins." 

20. Habbakuk, hi. 19, declares, "The Lord God is my strength, and 
he will make my feet like hinds' feet, and he will make me to walk in 
high places." 

21. The Old Testament canon is about to close and to close with a 
promise. Will the God of the wonderful past forget the body ? Hear him. 
"But unto you that fear my name shall the Sun of righteousness arise with 
healing in his wings." — Mai. iv. 2. I ask, what kind of healing did He 
bring? Was it not physical as well as spiritual? Then why not seek to 
reinhabit the "desolate heritage?" Why not use the wealth left us in 
our Father's will? 

22. Matt. i. 21. "And thou shalt call His name Jesus, for he shall 
save his people from their sins. ' ' This distinctive office was thus promi- 
nently set forth in the annunciation ; and so comprehensive and sweeping is 
it that all evil would be included were it not for the express provisions of 
Scripture, which specially mention death, afflictions, tribulations, testings 
and other fiery trials. The very name of Jesus calls up this fundamental 
promise. He is a Saviour. Not merely an alleviator \ * The theology of our 
day largely lowers the Saviour of men in to the role of a great philanthrop- 



HEALING- OF BODILY DISEASE. 49 

ist, visiting and comforting the prisoners, but leaving them in jail for life. 
It is this that paralyzes the arm of the church and makes it a figure-head 
where it should be a flaming power. ", Jesus came to save from sin, and to 
save now. 

23. The first temptation presented to Jesus in the wilderness was a 
purely physical one. There is a deep and powerful significance here. 
Many suppose that the devil was not sure of the divinity of Christ. Be 
this as it may, he was sure that Jesus had a man's body and a man's 
physical nature ; and long experience had confirmed him in the belief that 
a man can be approached most easily through the body. This Man had 
fasted forty days, and was hungry. Satan knew the almost resistless 
power of awakened appetite and physical desire, and so he suggested the 
immediate provision for a natural want. But the temptation aimed at an- 
other thing. The possible doubt as to the identity of Jesus led to the keen 
insinuation upon that point ; or if this be not true, the sneering tempter 
reminded Him of omnipotent power. 

I incline to the former belief. There is too much credit given to the 
devil entirely. What better advantage could he ask than to have men 
endow him with transcendent powers? He likes to wield the lash of a 
master, and if he can get a soul to believe it to be impossible to fight 
against him, his battle is already won. He always turns away people's 
minds from that declaration "Resist the devil and he will flee from you;" 
and whispers, you cannot hope to fight against him ; he was next to God 
in heaven, and his power is almost unlimited. So it comes about that men 
are willing to ascribe a slightly limited omnipotence and omniscience to 
Satan. Nearly everybody supposes him to possess foreknowledge, and 
even gives gives him credit for having an intimate acquaintance with 
God's plans and purposes, v Dear reader, this is all manufactured in hell. 
Are we to suppose that He, before whom archangels veil their faces, is 
visible to the personification of sin? Are God's ways which " the angels 
desire to look into " open reading to the prince of darkness ? Will God, 
who allows glimpses into the future to come now and then to His most 
favored servants, give foreknowledge freely to His greatest enemy? 
Depend upon it Satan only knows the future as revealed in prophecy. 
Undoubtedly he may often interpret it better than man ; but he knows 
nothing to come, of himself. He cannot tell the destiny of a single soul 
till God declares it ; hence his unremitting war to the last. His hope of 
success endures to the very gates of death, and he never spares an effort. 
What he most likes to hide from us to-day is that he is a beaten foe. 
Christ overcame him, defeated him, whipped him at every point; and 
Christ is ready to give the same victory to the true believer. Oh ! how 
Satan dreads the discovery of this great secret ! how carefully he guards 
against it, and how he howls with disappointment and rage, when a soul 
perceives it, through faith in the blood. 

But to return. Satan presented his first temptation to the worn out 



50 DIVINE EEAIING. 

physical powers of Jesus. It was a literal trial. " If thou be the Son of 
God, command that these stones be made bread." (Even the devil admits 
that the miracle of creation demonstrates God. Let infidelity profit by his 
example). But he evidently based his hope of success upon the weak 
body which was calling loudly for food. To this literal, physical tempta- 
tion, Jesus replied " It is written, man shall not live by bread alone, but 
by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God." — Matt. iv. 4. 
See Deut. viii. 3. Moses told Israel that God fed them on manna in 
order to make them know that man should live upon the words of God, 
as well as upon his natural food. The devil desisted at once, and tried 
another spot in the armor. As Judge Lowe has beautifully said, " 'It is 
written' was enough for the devil, and only the devil will ever say it is 
not enough." 

I feel that I am treading upon holy and delicate ground. Yet I am 
persuaded that Jesus' words did not want in literal signification. I re- 
member Elijah in his forty days' march across the desert " to Horeb, the 
mount of God." I recall Moses, as for nearly three months he abode in 
God's presence. The scene in the wilderness of the Jordan rises before 
me, and another scene as well. Upon a silent mountain top a man con- 
tinues all night in prayer to God. In the early morning watch, in the 
strength which came not from physical food, but from -conversation with 
His Father, He walks upon the tossing sea (the great symbol of the surg- 
ing sin of our souls), calms the tempest, not by slow methods of gradual sub- 
sidence, but by a word ; and when He reaches the other shore, so strong 
is the faith within Him that "as many as touch the hem of His garment 
are made perfectly whole." — Matt. xiv. 36. " The water that I shall give 
him shall be in him a well of water springing up into everlasting life." — 
John iv. 14. 

With loving gratitude, I, with many others, testify for Jesus in this 
matter. flMore and more I am coming to realize that my whole life, physical 
as well as spiritual, hangs upon the Word of God. " His words are sweet 
to my taste," and " I esteemed the words of his mouth more than my 
necessary food," have a significance beneath the "figure of speech." I know 
that "the life which I now live in the flesh I live by the faith of the Son 
of God, who loved me and gave himself for me." Jesus brought my soul 
out of the pit of sin. Jesus brought my body out of the pit of fatal disease. 
Jesus keeps my soul, and Jesus keeps my body. These have become great 
thrilling facts in my experience. Again and again, when weary and tired 
with physical work, I have found rest and strength in the " words of his 
mouth," and been more refreshed than if I had eaten or slept. "The 
words that I speak unto you, they are spirit, and they are life." — Johnvi., 
63. A few minutes on my knees, alone with God, have given me more 
actual physical strength, not to mention spiritual vigor, than hours of 
idleness. I do not mean to say that we are to disregard all the laws of 
nature and press beyond the bounds of reason. Quite the reverse. I 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 51 

speak of times when work was to be done, which while trying, was not at 
all unreasonable. I do not throw away my reason, but only make it de- 
pendent upon, and co-laborer with faith. Many an outbreaking, God-defy- 
ing sinner endures much more physical effort every day than I do, or ever 
did. That is not the point. The distinction lies in this. I was prostrated 
through disease. Jesus restored me. But now my physical nature 
and experience often demonstrate, to my entire satisfaction, that, but for 
the living Word, I would not be alive, much less in health and comfort. 
I am made to feel vividly my constant dependence upon Jesus, and am al- 
ways conscious that every breath I draw for body, soul, or spirit, comes 
straight from His hand. I am thus sweetly aware that I belong entirely 
to my Saviour, and I praise Him for all I am, and all I have. Praise the 
Lord! 

One thing is certain. Jesus met a temptation which involved the 
question of physical life and health, by the positive statement that these 
do not depend upon the human means of sustenance alone, but upon the 
Word of God. To contend that He referred only to spiritual comfort 
would be to say that the Son of God used Scripture where it was not ap~ 
plicable. This would be blasphemy. 

24. The miracles of healing wrought by our Lord were all on condi- 
tions that are closely identified with redemption and the gospel. " Believe 
ye that I am able to do this \ " " Thy faith hath saved thee." These were the 
conditions always. And who has not noticed that not one was ever refused. 
" He healed them that had need of healing." — Luke ix. 56. It was not as 
important as healing the soul ; and it seemed to be less difficult, for we are 
told that in Nazareth, " He could do there no mighty work, save that 
he laid his hands upon a few sick folk and healed them." — Mark vi. 5. 

25. The commission to the twelve apostles is significant. Matt, x.: 
" He gave them power against unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to 
heal all manner of sickness and all manner of disease." After conferring 
this power,* He said : " as ye go, preach, saying, The kingdom of heaven 
is at hand. Heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, cast out devils; 
freely ye have received, freely give." Mark vi. 12, 13, tells us : " And 
they went out, and preached that men should repent. And cast out many 
jlevils, and anointed with oil many that were sick, and healed them." 
(We are not told that they secured many converts, but are assured of the 

success attending their healing ministry. See Luke ix. 1, 2, 6. " He 
gave them power and authority over all devils and to cure diseases. And 
he sent them to preach the kingdom of God, and to heal the sick. And 
they departed, and went through the towns, preaching the Gospel, and 
healing everywhere." Again in Luke x. 1, 9, 17, 18, 19, we read : " The 
Lord appointed other seventy also, and sent them two and two before his 
face . . . and said unto them . . . into whatsoever city ye enter . . . 

*How did they know they had the power? I imagine only because Jesus said so. 



52 DIVINE HEAIING. 

hea* the sick that are therein, and say unto them the idngdom of God is 
come nigh unto you. And the seventy returned again with joy, saying, 
Lord, even the devils are subject unto us through thy name. And He 
said unto them, I beheld Satan as lightning fall from heaven. Behold I 
give unto you power to tread on serpents and scorpions, and over all the 
power of the enemy ; and nothing shall by any means hurt you." 

These quotations prove, that Jesus gave His first preachers a double 
commission, for souls and bodies. (They prove that these diseases, or at 
i least some of them, were the direct work of the devil.\ They prove that 
all such power is " through thy name," the name of Jesus ; which is simp- 
ly ^another way of saying that the -benefits of such power rest solely upon 
the vicarious Atonement. And they prove that to these first teachers He 
also promised a continuance of health in their own persons ; even in spite 
of " serpents," " scorpions " and all the " power of the enemy." The infer- 
ence is not unreasonable, that the poison from a serpent's bite, in its 
operation upon the human body, belongs to the " power of the enemy," 
"he that hath the power of death," — the devil. 

26. I here trespass a little upon the following chapter, because of the 
connection. In Mark xvi. 17, 18, we read, "And these signs shall follow 
them that believe; In my name shall they cast out devils; they shall 
speak with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink 
any deadly thing, it shall not hurt -them ; they shall lay hands on the 
sick, and they shall recover." In this last utterance to His disciples 
Jesus promised all these signs "to 'them that believe." I elsewhere dis- 
cuss the absurdity of the argument which predicates anything upon the 
fact that these signs have not followed good Christian men and women, 
who 'had no belief in or expectation of these signs. But here is the 
promise. Notice that it includes the assurance of personal exemption 
from physical injury, as well as the extension of benefits to others. Upon 
what could these benefits be based, save upon the Atonement ? No twist 
of the language can possibly alter the plain fact that Jesus directly 
promised miraculous preservation, and miraculous powers to "them that 
believe."* When the apostles felt the need of "power from on high," 
they deliberately united in asking God to stretch forth His hands to heal, 
"and that^signs and wonders may be done by the name of thy holy child 
Jesus." — Acts iv. 29, 30. Note that this prayer was offered in an age of 
faith in the supernatural and amongst a people whose whole history 
abounded in the miraculous. Is there less need to-day, when we are 
surrounded by a materialism in the world and in the church, which holds 
that God has not stepped outside the barrier of "natural law" for 
centuries, and that He cannot or will not do so ? 

Are the words "If ye have faith, nothing shall be impossible unto you" 

* For conclusive evidence of the existence of everyone of these signs in modern times, see 
" Supernatural Gifts of the Spirit " 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 53 

of no real force in our day ? Is it true that " if two of you shall agree on 
earth as touching anything that they shall ask, it shall be done for them 
of my Father which is in heaven?" — (Matt. xvii. 20 and xviii. 19). 

But, thank God, these promises hold to-day, for though " Heaven and 
earth shall pass away, my words shall not pass away." — Matt. xxiv. 35. 
The conditions of absolute faith, and sometimes of "prayer and fasting," 
(Mark. ix. 28, 29,) must be fulfilled. If we fail in the smallest fraction of 
our duty we need not wonder that the answer is withheld. It could not 
be otherwise. 

A distinguished literary Christian, ridiculing the doctrine of this book, 
says : " I can tell you the reason of these cures ; it is the faith. Destroy 
that and the disease will return. I met a man who had been cured, and 
when I explained it to him, his sickness returned. He said he did not 
know whether it was better to be ignorant and well, or to have the 
knowledge and be sick." 

A more pitiable exhibition of ignorance in an able man would be hard 
to find. Certainly " it is the faith." But there is nothing ridiculous about 
that. Most assuredly, if you destroy the faith the disease returns. How 
could it be otherwise ? And yet this learned man appears to be persuad- 
ed that he expressed a brilliant argument against "faith-healing" in the 
above words. . How infinitely obtuse ! Did not Jesus say " according to 
your faith "? 1 One of the healed was specially warned to a sin no more 
lest a worse thing come upon thee"; and when we remember that 
" whatever is not of faith, is sin," we at once see the logical reason for a 
return of the disease if faith fail. Peter only walked upon the sea while 
his eye was fixed on Jesus. 

27. Luke ix. 56. "For the Son of man is not come to destroy 
men's lives, but to save them." Is this not conclusive? Did he save the 
physical lives of those diseased multitudes? Then do not these words at 
least include the body? Of course the conditions are always to be re- 
membered, and they are very searching. "If ye abide in me, and my 
words abide in you," — emphasize this a thousand times — " Ye shall ask 
what ye will, and it shall be done unto you." — Jno. xv. 7. The great 
cause of trouble lies in the fact that we will emphasize the latter half ? be- 
cause it holds up the desired objects, while we forget the conditions. 

28. " As thou hast sent me into the world, even so have I also sent 
them into the world." — Jno. xvii. 18. Ponder and pray over these words. 
He was sent, a perfect man, holy, harmless, undefiled. He was free from 
sin, and from inward disease. He bore the weight of other's sins and 
sicknesses. There was no evil within Him, but He was almost overwhelmed 
by the evil from without. " Even so " our Lord sends us into the world. 
Even so He sends His own who are wholly consecrated to Him. Cleansed 
from all sin, and strengthened by His own divine life, — the life of Jesus 
in our mortal flesh quickened by His Spirit ; we are to go forth bearing 
the reproach of the cross, and enduring every form of evil from without; 



54 DIVINE HEALING. 

but not from within. There God's image is to be constantly seen, and 
God's perfect peace to perpetually reign. In this view we can see a posi- 
tive answer to that marvelous prayer "I pray not that thou shouldst 
take them out of the world, but that thou shouldst keep them from the 
evil." — Jno. xvii. 15. Eot from the evil of persecution, of trial, of nak- 
edness, of peril, of sword ; for " in the world ye shall have tribulation.'' 
Jno. xvi. 33. But from all touch of " evil " upon or in the personality of 
the individual. In close accord with this we find John declaring, years 
after, " We know that whoever is born of God sinneth not ; but he that 
is begotten of God keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him 
not." — 1 Jno. v. 18. Have God's hedges all withered since the days of 
Job and David? (Job i. 10, Ps. xxxiv. 7.) 

29. Acts iv. 29, 30. "And now Lord ... grant unto thy servants, 
that with all boldness they may speak thy word, by stretching forth thy 
hand to heal, and that signs and wonders may be done by the name of 
thy holy child, Jesus. " The full significance of this remarkable prayer 
seems to have been strangely overlooked. The Apostles, after a most ex- 
traordinary " miracle of healing " had been called in question on this very 
point of cure, and had declared that it had all been done in Jesus' name 
and " by faith in his name. " Eemember that Peter had said to the man 
" such as I have, give I thee. " And then see them uniting in a prayer 
which most undeniably couples miraculous healing of the body with the 
proclamation of the word ; thus plainly declaring that the " signs and 
wonders by the name of thy holy child, Jesus," were distinctly an integral 
part of that word which they so desired to " boldly " proclaim. And 
God confirmed their understanding of the matter by signs, and great power 
in spiritual matters ; sending Stephen and Philip, " full of faith, and the 
Holy Ghost," to proclaim this word and to be the instruments in the 
cures. 

30. Corinthians may almost be called the gospel of the body, for it 
so abounds in physical directions, admonitions, and advice. In 1 Cor. ii. 
5, we read, " Your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men (what of 
physicians when God has said ' I am the Lord thy healer '? — Ex. xv. 26), 
but in the power of God." In chapter iii. 16, 17, the Apostle declares 
that we are the temple of God, that the Spirit of God dwells in us, and 
that if we defile the temple, God will destroy us. "Who will dare to deny 
that this includes the body and the laws of health? In chapters v. and vi., 
after discussing a physical sin, Paul asks, " Know ye not that your bodies 
are the members of Christ ? " Having just stated that " The body is for the 
Lord, and the Lord for the body. " Beyond controversy, the physical body 
alone is here indicated. How is the body "for the Lord?" Of course to 
serve Him. But how is " The Lord for the body, " except to save it and 
preserve it ? And how can the Lord save any part or portion of a man, 
except through the Atonement ? And how can the Atonement be applied 
for anything which was not contained in the divine plan of that sacrifice ? 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE, 55 

If our bodies are " the members of Christ, " and He " bore our sick- 
nesses, " there is certainly the possibility of our exemption ; and we can 
glorify God by meeting the conditions and enjoying this privilege, for the 
Apostle says, in chapter vi. 19, 20, "What, know ye not that your body 
is the temple of the Holy Ghost which is in you, which ye have of God 
and ye are not your own? For ye are bought with a price (body and 
all) ; therefore glorify God in your body and in your spirit, which are 
God's." How can we glorify God in our spirits? By letting Him save 
them, and keep them from sin ; and by serving Him spiritually. How can 
we glorify Him in our bodies? By letting Him save them and keep them 
from sin, (this includes all offenses against the laws of health and physical 
morality) and by serving Him physically. 

Certainly it is plain that if the body be held in strict subjection to the 
laws of health, and no physical sins be committed, that sickness is ex- 
tremely improbable. (Becall the case of the old Yenetian Admiral who 
reformed at forty years of age, after a life of beastly drunkenness, and 
then lived in perfect health until past one hundred, through habits of 
mathematical rigidity and abstemiousness. ( "We have seen that the Jews 
were promised health and strength if they lived in perfect obedience. 
Paul knew this well, and he wrote several chapters in Corinthians on 
those physical sins of lust and appetite, which so commonly bring the 
punishment of disease, in order that they might be avoided, God glorified 
and the individual benefited. With great emphasis he declares: " I keep 
under my body and bring it into subjection. " He fully appreciated the 
close relation between physical sins, and physical effects. But if these 
abuses of the bodily functions were avoided, the results would be tilso. 
In the same spirit he alludes to a great physical sin and its retribution 
(chapter x, 8) and then declares, " JSTow all these things happened unto 
them for examples ; and they are written for our admomtion^ upon whom 
the ends of the world are come. " 

If the church would obey the injunction of verse 31, " Whether therefore 
ye cat or drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all for the glory of God, " and 
obey it in the last and least particular, the doctors would -have to look to 
the world for support. >." 

I cannot swell this book to an unwieldy size, and must therefore be 
brief; simply remarking that a volume as large as this can easily be pre- 
pared on the subject of Divine Healing in the Epistles alone. But pass- 
ing on I note that the "natural body," 1 Cor. xv. 4A, is under sentence 
of death, but let us remember that there was never any sentence 
of sickness pronounced, except as a result of disobedience, and this was 
coupled with a strong promise of health, if obedient. These things are 
too plain. They must be overturned or admitted. 

2 Cor. i. 20. " For all the promises of God in him are yea, and in 
him amen, unto the glory of God by us." Having used this in the intro- 
duction, I simply say, read the abundant promises of God concerning 



56 DIVINE HEALING. 

obedience and health, and then deny if you can, that the Atonement 
brings us health of body, " in him, unto the glory of God by us. " 

And finally, " We walk by faith, not by sight " (2 Cor. v. 7.) was 
written just in the midst of a pointed discussion of the physical body. 
Read it and ponder. 

31. In Eph. v., we read of physical sins which bring physical disease ; 
and we are warned not to be deceived, but to remember that " because of 
these things cometh the wrath of God upon the children of disobedi- 
ence. " Passing on, Paul touches the relation of husband and wife, and 
declares that Christ is "the saviour of the body." The word "saviour" 
means preserver, and the word "body" is the one that is always used 
when the physical man is indicated. True, a comparison is made between 
the church and wives ; but the following language gives distinct support 
to the idea that the physical is meant. " Men ought to love their wives 
as their own bodies, " and " no man ever yet hated his own flesh, " are 
distinctly physical in their import. 

Then follows the tremendous declaration. "For we are members 
of his body, of his flesh, and of his bones." Well may Paul add, 
"This is a great mystery." Thank God! many mysteries become plain 
when we are walking with Jesus. Even this is not wholly a blank. This 
wonderful union with Christ; just what is its nature and how it is brought 
about; who can tell? But may we not believe in the union itself as an 
actual fact, and not merely a figure? "Members of his body, of his flesh, 
and of his bones." The life of Jesus in me, coursing through my veins, 
and thrilling my soul and spirit ; how can it be mine, save through the 
merits of His atoning sacrifice? "He that eateth me, even he shall live 
by me." — Jno. vi. 57. "Doth this offend you," beloved? Beware how 
you ask "How can this man give us his flesh to eat" ? The answer will 
only be the yet stranger statement, "Except ye eat the flesh of the Son of 
Man, and drink his blood, ye have no life in you." Remember, "He that 
eateth my flesh and drinketh my blood, dwelleth in me cmd Im KimP I 
do not attempt to explain, but can only say these words have a meaning 
now to me that is new and strange and wonderful. 

32. Gal. iii. 13. "Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law, 
being made a curse for us ; for it is written, cursed is every one that 
hangeth on a tree." This is a tremendous assertion, and it clearly involves 
the vicarious Atonement for sickness or disease. These afflictions are 
indisputably the attendants and results of sin. That they are emphatically 
included in the " curse of the law," can not be denied for a moment. Refer 
again to the numerous quotations already made from Exodus, Leviticus, 
Deuteronomy, etc., for the repeated and lengthy declarations of Moses 
upon this point, (in fact there is vastly greater evidence that sickness and 
disease constituted the " curse of the law " than that spiritual death was 
indicated. This may appear startling, but it is most positively true.^ Of 
course I do not for a moment belittle the spiritual side of the question, but 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 57 

/ 1 do point to the fact that the "law" most specially and repeatedly 
[declares bodily sickness to be directly included in the "curse," and to form 
a very important element thereof/^ But Paul positively affirms that 
" Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law" the whole of it, of 
course, for who will dare say the work of redemption is not finished. But 
how hath He redeemed us % By " being made a curse for us." Let us put 
this argument in its simplest form. 

1. All forms of sickness and disease were included, and even mentioned 
particularly, in the " curse of the law." — Ex. xv. ; Ex. xxiii. ; Lev. xxvi. ; 
JDeut. vii. ; Deut. xxxii., etc., etc. 

2. " Christ hath redeemed us from the curse of the law." Therefore, 
Christ hath redeemed us from all sickness and disease. There is no future 
tense about it, the work is finished. Again, 

1. Christ redeemed us from sin by His vicarious Atonement ; that is, 
"He was made sin for us." 

2. Christ redeemed us from the " curse of the law," by "being made a 
curse for us." 

Therefore we are redeemed from all the " curse of the law," body, soul 
and spirit, solely through His vicarious Atonement. Praise the Lord ! 
Search the Scriptures, and see whether these things be so. 

33. In Colossians i. 27 and ii. 4, we find two phrases " Christ in you," 
and " Christ our life," that most beautifully and wonderfully express the 
doctrine of physical health in Christ, just as much as they express our 
spiritual life. The idea is that Christ is formed within us ; that He indeed 
becomes the life of the body as well as the soul ; so that we are enabled, 
"as we have received Christ Jesus the Lord" — by faith for soul and 
body — to " so walk in him " (chap. ii. 6) for the performance of all the work 
He may have for us to do on this earth ; and this I believe to be the experi- 
mental fulfillment of the petition recorded in chap. iv. 12, in which 
Epaphras prayed, "that ye may stand perfect and complete in all the will 
of God." The last utterances of Israel's great lawgiver contain this same 
truth, very clearly expressed, " For he is thy life, and the length of thy 
days." — Deut. xxx. 20. This cannot be misconstrued, for the expression 
" length of thy days " forbids any meaning other than a physical one. 
Yet of this physical existence Moses says of Jehovah, "he is thy life." 
Joining this with Paul's words, " Christ who is our life," we have the full 
gospel for soul and body. 

One single case will be quoted here from Scripture. In Heb. xi. 11, 
we are distinctly informed that it was " through faith " that Sara received 
the healing from a purely physical deficiency, and that it was " because 
she judged him faithful who had promised." Plainly, her faith was 
necessary, and was exercised before the healing came. And it was cer- 
tainly a clear case of "gradual" healing by faith. 

34. As we read the life of Christ, we are struck with the continued 
stream of healing miracles that flowed from Him wherever He went. 



58 DIVINE HEALING. 

" He healed all that were sick." l As many as touched were made per- 
fectly whole." This record begins with His ministry, and terminates in 
Gethsemane with the act of healing power in restoring the ear of the high 
priest's servant. When the great prophet, Elisha, was laid to rest, the 
dead bones of a man sprang into life at the touch of his body Q)ut when 
Jesus died many graves opened, and the risen dead walked the streets of 
Jerusalem. Truly the Atonement made provision for the body. 

But it is contended that these numerous miracles of healing were 
wrought in order to establish the divinity of our Lord. JSTow, it is true 
Jesus himself said that His works testified of the Father, and at another 
time, He exhorted His hearers to " believe Him for the very work's sake." 
But surely the latter clearly hints at the fact that such was not the primary 
intention. "I work the works of Him that sent me," gives us the idea 
that Jesus continuously bore the sins and sickness of lost souls and bodies. 
He said not " I have worked;" that would admit the construction of an 
intended demonstration of His divinity; but " I work," is present and 
unlimited. Let us remember in this connection, that His name, given to 
Moses, proclaims the unchanging character of His nature and His work — 
I am. There is no past or future, properly speaking, with our Master and 
Lord. Glory to His name ! Rather should we see, in these miracles, the 
natural outcome of that love wherewith He loved us. He healed because, 
in a sense, He could not help it. He that wept over the city, could not 
withhold the touch of health from the citizens who came to Him honestly, 
believing in His power to heal. 

Thomas Erskine wrote, " Until Christ's ascension He did not receive 
gifts for men* ; the power of the Holy Ghost was not lodged in Him as 
the Head of the body, and so that power could not flow internally from 
Him into the members. The inflow of the power into them was a witness 
to the world of the exaltation of the Head. The great and common mis- 
take with regard to the gifts is, that they were intended merely to 
authenticate or to witness to the inspiration of the canon of Scripture, 
and that therefore when the canon was completed, they should cease ; 
whereas they were intended to witness to the exaltation of Christ as the 
Head of the body, the church. Reader, do you not feel that if these 
things be so, then there is a nearness to God, and a walking in him, and 
a down-breaking of the creature in real Christianity of which you as yet 
know nothing." f 

A very strong proof that the miracles of Christ were not merely 
intended to demonstrate His divinity is found in the fact that the Bible 
always avoids any such thing. God's existence and nature are always pre- 
supposed. The first words of the sacred writing " In the beginning God 
created the heavens and the earth," assume all that can be imagined of 

* Eph. iv., 8. 

f See " Supernatural Gifts of Spirit," p. 19, fromErskine's " Brazen Serpent." 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 59 

the miraculous power of the Creator. When the threats of vengeance 
were sent to Pharaoh the words were spoken " He shall know that I am 
God," etc. ; but of course we see that the primal object was the deliver- 
ance of the chosen people. The convincing of the Egyptians was a 
secondary result. Had this been the object of the miracles why were 
they not wrought for the doubters when they asked for one ? They were 
performed only for those who had faith, or for pure benevolence, as in the 
case of feeding the five thousand. 

£^4ximiral E. Gardiner Fishbourne, of the English Navy, endorses the 
ideaoiTTiomas Erskine, just quoted. He says ; in answer to the ques- 
tion, why these miracles now ?* 

" In mercy God is opening men's eyes to their past unbelief as to His 
power and love in Christ, .... 

" He is endorsing real theology, and condemning the unreal imputative, 
merely speculative and powerless systems 

" He is generating faith in the supernatural by witnessing to its 
reality, and proving that Christianity is not effete or less potential than it 
was in apostolic times, and showing that those who argue that it is 
so, and who limit the Holy One of Israel by teaching that divine joy, 
divine holiness, and divine healing were confined to apostolical times, have 
been, and are, doing irreparable damage to their own souls, while they 
destroy the unity of the church and its power over heathendom. 

" These cures are to prove that Christ's love is not less than it was 
when He tabernacled in the flesh in Judaea, and that His power is even 
greater now that He is enthroned at the Father's right hand; and that it is 
now, as it was from the beginning, His desire to enthrone Himself by 
His Spirit, in the hearts of all believers. 

" To prove to those who, in child-like faith, accept it, that the Word 
of God is inspired by the Holy Ghost, and can be understood by those 
who seek His enlightenment, while it is a sealed hook to all who are without 
His teaching, however deep and extended is their human knowledge. 

(fjTo prove to this money-grubbing, God-denying and unspiritual age, 
that there is neither progress nor profit when the soul is not fully saved 
and sanctified?^ 

" To prove to the false philosophers and unbelieving divines that the 
God, in whom we live and move and have our being, is known to, and 
knowable only in the Lord Jesus Christ by faith, while the reality of His 
presence, love, and power is demonstrated to reason by faith healing." r 

Erskine has the clear idea — the witnessing to the risen Christ as the 
living Head of the body. This will always be seen whenever the mem- 
bers evince that consecration and faith which allows the inflow and out- 
flow of supernatural power. 

* Small pamphlet " Wholeness, or Holiness and Health through Faith in the Lord Jesus 
Christ. " London : Elliot, Stock & Houghton. 



60 MT1NE HEALim. 

One very important point has been entirely overlooked. Those people 
came very close to Jesus ; much closer than most persons do to-day. Note 
that He did not heal at a distance, except where the messenger came 
specially on behalf of the patient. ' ' As many as touched were made per- 
fectly whole. ' ' He did not cast the devils out of a man while the sea of 
Galilee rolled between them, but when they actually met. This obvious 
fact has blinded men to a glorious parallel. We are told that this is the 
very reason why miracles of healing are not to be expected to-day. Jesus 
is not here, as He was then. Ah! is it so? " Lo I am with you alway, 
even to the end of the age," was spoken almost in the same breath 
with the promise of the signs and wonders to " follow them that believe."* 
Men have failed to see the wonderful truth that it is actually possible, 
in this century of grace, to draw just as near to Jesus Christ as it 
ever was when He walked the streets of Jerusalem. The door of faith 
may be narrower than the door of sight, but it is wide enough to 
admit any soul that has resolutely laid aside " every weight, and the 
sin which doth so easily beset us.*.' Eighteen centuries ago no sick man 
ever went to Jesus for healing, and at the same time left part of his 
body at home. He had to go with a whole purpose and a whole action. 
Just so to-day. /If you will take all you are or hope to be, all your 
doubts, all your fears, all your dread of men and men's opinions, and 
go to Jesus in an absolute and irrevocable consecration of soul and 
body, you will get near enough to " touch the hem of His garment;" 
and it is true to-day that ' ' as many as touch are made perfectly 
whole. *& But you can't touch Him through a reservation, any more 
than you can receive the electrical current through a thick glass plate. 
Judas an<fl John were both near to Christy Judas had his doubts, his 
greed, his selfish desires, and he was repelled from the divine presence 
of the Master, and died a victim of sin and death. But John, with 
earnest purpose and honest love, drew so near that he leaned on Jesus' 
breast, and the pulsing of that eternal heart imparted love and light 
and life : so that he lived a century, and was spared a death from vio- 
lence. , Moses lived to one hundred and twenty, a perfect physical man: 
Enoch walked with God three hundred years, till God took him ; and 
Elijah, who like Moses, talked with God upon the mount, passed up in 
a chariot of fire. But each of these saints " knew God face to face," and 
there was no power in the hands of Satan to hurt them, in soul or body. 
My brother, if you press as near to Jesus as those men did, the life-power 
of His glorious nature will expel all the Judas elements of your entire 
being, while the John characteristics will bloom and blossom into marvel- 
ous and supernatural beauty. Have you ever tried to touch Jesus f*J 

* Prof. J. Kendell Harris, of the Johns Hopkins' University, has done good service, 
through his studies of the mechanical measurements of the Greek text, in showing that the 
discredit cast by the Revisers on the closing verses of Mark, the story of the woman taken 
in adultery and other passages, is entirely a mistake. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 61 

35. There is one general argument from Scripture which is of great im- 
portance. It is the argument from analogy, and from history. When Jesus 
ascended he left two great promises ; the coming of the Holy Ghost, and his 
own return. Both of these are necessary to the establishment of the king- 
dom on earth ; and hence we find the two constantly united in the Apos- 
tolic epistles. 

In Christ's own history we find Him begotten as the Son of God, but 
unknown to His own nation. We find Him baptized with the Holy Ghost, 
and immediately working as never man worked. And we see Him raised 
from the dead, a glorified being, and ascending to God. The first was fore- 
shadowed in the types of the Mosaic ritual. The second was indicated by 
His encounter with the doctors in the temple. And the third was betokened 
by His transfiguration. 

At or before each stage the devil specially sought to arrest further 
progress. He strives to kill the infant Jesus ; to cause His downfall in the 
wilderness ; and to destroy Him on Calvary. 

(Now there is one great principle which governs the universe. It 
is this : the history of the whole is the history of its parts and vice 
versa. V 

The history of the church is the history of the individual. The history 
of the type is the history of the antitype. Hence we find the natural 
physical world clearly teaching the same truths> God visits the earth with 
a flood destroying all past sin and sinners, just as Jesus Christ came to give 
the washing of regeneration, casting all our sins into the depths of the sea. 

The second time He will come with fire, destroying the -very roots and 
seeds of evil, and making " all things new," just as He comes the " second 
time without sin" unto those who seek for Him, and with the fiery baptism 
"with the Holy Ghost" burns up the old unrighteous nature or "carnal 
mind" and makes "all things new," as never before. 

This argument from the types, if closely followed, proves to be mar- 
velous in its searching application and absolute fidelity, in every last and 
least particular; but I have no space here for more than a hint at its out- 
line. But as we apply this key to the church's history we see a perfect 
parallel. 

God chose out or created Israel ; but it was hidden away among the 
nations. Next the church was baptized with fire and with the Holy Ghost, 
and at once began a work world-wide in its reach. Lastly, the rapture 
and resurrection will witness the full redemption of the "bride." 

Now, just as in Jesus' history, the devil specially opposes and counter- 
feits God's work, and "the more as he sees the day approaching." Per- 
haps he is warned by the f or eshado wings which may be plainly seen. 
The great revival of missionary effort is one of the most marked signs of 
the times, and the gospel is being rapidly preached "for a witness to all 
nations." A.nd as the Holy Ghost is at work stirring up the most marked 
and persistent looking for the coming of the Lord that has been known 



62 DIVINE HEALING. 

since apostolic times, so the devil is at work with his special agencies to 
defeat God if he can. 

/Hence our day witnesses the most extraordinary revival and rehash of 
exploded errors and ancient sins ever known since the flood. Theosophy, 
Spiritualism, Esoteric religion, refined Buddhism, Mind Cure, Metaphysics, 
Christian Science, Polygamy, etc., swarm forth with a spontaneity that is 
only less astonishing than their ready acceptance by multitudes of people in 
every land. In the first edition of this book I pointed out the devil's imi- 
tating hand in the "mind cure;" but to-day its advances have astounded 
us all. 

The significance of these things Hes in the fact that the second advent 
is specially attended and preceded by the Holy Spirit's work. Therefore 
the devil appears with all these counterfeits, every one of which exalts 
spirit or mind (wrongly using the two words synonymously), as the Holy 
Spirit's office .is specially to "guide you unto all truth;" so these various 
offspring of hell all particularly call attention to the fact that they will 
show you the truth. Indeed this has become the very watchword among 
them, and on all sides echoes a meaningless cry, "We want the truth, 
the truth, the truth." 

And finally as the Spirit is to soon reveal a living Christ in His glory, 
so these miserable snares of the devil are labeled all over on the outside 
with such names as "Christian Science," "The Perfect Way, or the Find- 
ing of Christ," "The "World's Light," etc. 

But as it is always true that the presence of counterfeits proves the co- 
existence of the real, all these seem to point to the two great facts of the 
dav^we five in, viz. : 

Jesus is coming, and the Holy Ghost is preparing the watchful for the 
advent. 

At His coming the waiting Bride is to be translated, and their physical 
bodies glorified with those of the resurrected saints. But this great con- 
summation for which the "whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain 
until now" has its distinct foreshadowing. 

The Spirit has directed the minds and hearts of God's earnest conse- 
crated children to the doctrine and faith of Divine-healing as the necessary 
preparation for the reception of translation by faith' for like Enoch 
we must have faith for that wonderful transition. How exceedingly 
reasonable then, and how perfectly in analogy is it that preceding the 
great change when the life of Christ will be suddenly communicated w 
the church to such an extent as to cause her to rise triumphant over death ; 
how reasonable it is, I say, that the Holy Ghost should lead us to see the 
possible reception of that marvelous life by faith for the victory over dis- 
ease as an "earnest of our inheritance." 

The temptation which drove man out of paradise, is the last to bar his 
return. The trump card which won Eden is played again to-day with the 
same satanic malice. "Yea hath God said? " Are you sure He meant 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 63 

exactly what He said, or was it not a figure of speech? By the thousands 
on thousands the members of the church of God are falling before this 
old card of the Serpent ; and on every hand the entire list of events attend- 
ing the second advent are transformed into a series of figures and 
" spiritual" mysticisms/V 

It is the purpose of this book to "go through the gates," and to "pre- 
pare the way" as much as possible for the coming of the King. "Be ye 
also ready; for in such an hour as ye think not, the Son of man cometh." 

1. — Sickness from the Devil. 

^ THE DEVIL. 

/Men don't believe in a devil now, as their fathers used to do; 
They've forced the door of the broadest creed to let his majesty through. 
There isn't a print of his cloven foot or a fiery dart from his bow 
To be found in earth or air to-day, for the world has voted so. 
But who is it mixing the fatal draught that palsies heart and brain, 
And loads the bier of each passing year with ten hundred thousand slain? 
Who blights the bloom of the land to-day with the fiery breath of hell, 
If the devil isn't and never was? Won't somebody rise and tell? 
Who dogs the steps of the toiling saint, and digs the pits for his feet? 
Who sows the tares in the field of time wherever God sows His wheat ? 
The Devil is voted not to be, and of course the thing is true; 
But who is doing the kind of work the Devil alone should do ? 
We are told he does not go about as a roaring lion now; 
But whom shall we hold responsible for the everlasting row 
To be heard in home, in church and state, to earth's remotest bound, 
If the Devil, by a unanimous vote, is nowhere to be found ? 
Won't somebody step to the front forthwith, and make his bow, and show 
How the frauds and the crimes of a single day spring up ? We want to know. 
The Devil was fairly voted out, and, of course, the Devil's gone; 
But simple people would like to know who carries bis business on ? 

Rev. A. J. Hough, 

Kev. Samuel Wakefield in his well-known " Christian Theology," p. 
259, says: "We learn from Scripture that they (demons) are permitted to 
exercise power over the bodies of men." To sustain this he refers to the 
history of Job and the demoniacs, noticing the fact of the special mention 
made of the number and language of the demons, and of the manner of 
their expulsion. Again he says: "They have power to exercise an evil 
influence over the human mind." In proof of this he cites the cases of 
Judas, Ananias, and Sapphira, and others. Among other strong state- 
ments he uses the following: "It is their constant aim to dishonor God 
and to injure men, and in prosecuting their wicked designs they submit 
to no restraint but Almighty power." 

Kev. ii. 10. ' ' Behold the devil shall cast some of you into prison, 
that ye may be tried; and ye shall have tribulation ten days." 

Eev. ix. 5, 6, 20. "And to them (the locusts) it was given that they 
should not kill them (men) but that they should be tormented five months, 
and their torment was as the torment of a scorpion when he strikethman. 



64 DIVINE HEAIING. 

And in those days shall men seek death and shall not find it ; and shall 
desire to die, and death shall flee from them. And the rest of the men 
which were not killed by these plagues yet repented not." 

Eev. xvi. 2, 9, 10, 11. " And there fell a noisome and grievous sore 
upon the men which had the mark of the beast. And men were scorched 
with great heat, and blasphemed the name of God, which hath power over 
these plagues ; and they repented not, and blasphemed the God of Heaven, 
because of their pains and their sores, and repented not of their deeds." 

f These quotations settle the point that able theologians, with no thought 
of our doctrine, maintain that the demons have power over the bodies 
of men, and constantly strive to injure them; and that the Scripture 
expressly declares that such permission is granted to them for purposes 
of discipline or judgment. 

/In spite of the verse "T create evil," Isa. xlv. 7, and the famous 
account of the lying spirit's mission to AJaab's prophets, 2 Chron. xviii.,_ 
we all believe that God is not, properly speaking, the author of sin. , 
Of course the coming and existence of sin, and sickness if you please, ' 
was included in the divine plan, or else God's foreknowledge has nar- 
row limitations; but when in His wisdom He allows the evil, it only 
seems, while condemning the voluntary actors, to bring out His glorious 
redemption. Now sickness is, most unquestionably, an evil. Good may 
result from it of course, but there is no use in trying to persuade a 
reasonable man that sickness, in itself, can ever be a good thing. We 
have already seen how God used it, or allowed it to be used, as a whip 
to bring the children of Israel back from their sins; and we all know 
full well that it has often the same use and effect to-day. Most people 
think Job's case is a mysterious and strange exception ; but I long 
ago determined that it is a regular type of God's dealings with the 
soul. Job was a good man; so good and honest as to be called " per- 
fect" by God himself. But Job, although perfect in heart, was not 
mature; and God wanted him to grow. This Job evidently failed to 
see, and therefore strong measures were necessary. Now let us carefully 
note that Satan was the direct agent who stole Job's sheep and camels, 
killed his sons and daughters, and at last actually " smote Job with sore 
boils from the sole of his foot unto his crown." Yes, Satan did it all. 
Nowadays men would say "the visitation of God," but the inspired 
writer tells us it was a visitation of the devil. Shall we suppose that the 
old adversary has lost any of his venom? On the contrary, "he hath 
great wrath, because he knows that his time is short." 

But let us particularly remember that Satan could not and did not 
make Job sick till God gave Mm a distinct permission to do so. (Why it 
required the distinct permission of Jesus for the demons to enter the 
Gadarene swine. Even a hog cannot be touched by Satan except the 
Lord allow). Here we have a positive statement of the fact that Job had 
physical health by the keeping power of God alone, and that Job became 



HEALING OF BODILY DLSEASE. 65 

sick only when that power was relaxed, for the purpose of opening his 
eyes to the advanced steps God wished him to take. We all know the 
story, and remember its significant close ; how God restored him to health 
and strength and possessions, as soon as the desired spiritual experience 
was received. O reader ! you who are sick in body and have suffered for 
months and years, does not this wonderful narrative cause you to think 
that you are halting and hesitating, failing to see God's leading, and just 
a little unresolved to say with Job to the very uttermost, ' ' I abhor my- 
self? ■" That absolute death of self, how hard it is! 

In Luke xiv. 4, 5, we see a plain inference made by the Lord himself 
that sickness, like the oxen's fall "into a pit," was a misfortune, which 
he was glad to heal or remedy when he could. 

Again we read in Luke xiii. 11-17, of the " woman which had a spirit 
of infirmity eighteen years, ' ' who was healed on the Sabbath day to the 
disgust of the Jews. Jesus Himself spoke the words, " ought not this 
woman, being a daughter of Abraham, whom Satan hath bound, lo, these 
eighteen years, be loosed from this bond on the Sabbath day?" Truly it 
was a fit work for the Great Physician to break the chains of the prince 
of darkness, whether forged about the soul or the body. 

Yet once more we have a plain statement of inspiration as to the 
origin of bodily disease. In Acts x. 38, Peter proclaimed to the Gentiles, 
that "God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with 
power: who went about doing good, healing all that were oppressed of the 
devil; for God was with him. " It would be a very narrow interpreta- 
tion that would limit this sweeping phrase to the few cases of demo- 
niacal possession recorded in the gospel history. Evidently the entire 
list of healings is included, by the apostle, in this general statement of the 
daily work of Jesus. Then those who are sick, are " oppressed by the 
devil." Most certainly they are; and last but not least, we have Paul's 
distinct declaration that his " thorn," whatever it may have been, was 
a " minister of Satan," sent to " buffet" him. Surely nothing could be 
more conclusive than this. 

(jt being apparent then that disease is generally from Satan, and that its 
use, to the Christian sufferer, is purely corrective ; it follows undeniably 
that if the cause or reason for the correction be removed, there is no 
necessity for the means of correction remaining. The children of Israel 
left the task-master's lash in Egypt, and were not obliged to hear it crack 
in order to keep them humble. I mean by this, that I need not expect 
to carry a certain form of sickness to my grave, when the leading of the 
Lord has been seen and accepted. When the Jews turned to God, He 
received them, and always removed the plagues and bodily diseases which 
had been used as a means of punishment. And whenever a man came to 
Jesus, He accepted the faith as far as it went, and never refused to remove 
the suffering and physical disability. 

We are now ready to turn to the Scriptures and read of the intent of 



6G DIVINE HEALING. 

the Atonement with reference to the work of Satan. Daniel prophesied 
that Christ would come after the seventy weeks, " to make an end of sins." 
Dan. ix. 24. He was to " restrain or finish the transgression," but of sins 
He would " make an end." "What a glorious truth for the fully reconciled 
child of the King ! But this sin is the work of the devil ; and we have 
just seen from the Word that sickness emanates directly from the same 
baleful source. Why then should not an end be made of that also ? If it 
was done for Israel in the wilderness, shall we, of the dispensation of 
grace, be less favored ? It is admitted that sickness is but the beginning 
of death, that it is, in fact, death's advance guard and active agent ; but 
Paul tells us that Jesus partook of our flesh and blood, " that through death 
he might destroy him that had the power of death, that is the devil ; and 
deliver them who through fear of death were all their life time subject to 
bondage." — Heb. ii. 14, 15. Here we are distinctly told that the devil has 
the power of death ; and therefore it follows that he has the power of 
sickness, as the van of death's army. Now Jesus has not yet destroyed 
death, except in the promise. That " last enemy " still exists and exer- 
cises power over us all, " For it is appointed unto men once to die." But 
here we find a parallel without a flaw. Sin is the disease which leads to 
the " second death," the death of the soul. Sickness is the disease which 
leads to bodily death. The Atonement of Christ has fully provided for 
the soul a salvation which makes an end of sin now, so that we may 
" serve,Him in righteousness and holiness all the days of our life," " being 
delivered from the present evil world ;" and it has provided that we shaS 
be delivered in the last great day, from the awful death which is the result 
and consequence of sin. But this latter deliverance is potential, we have 
it in the promise of God. The actual judicial day has not yet arrived, 
but we confidently expect it and believe that our names will be found 
written in the " Lamb's book of fife." The advance guard of spiritual 
death — sin — is thus already destroyed through the work of Christ in our 
souls, and the main body, the dreadful reality itself is potentially de- 
stroyed in God's promise, and will be actually destroyed, so far as we are 
concerned, after the glorious appearing of our Lord, or at least when the 
books will be opened, and the names contained therein published to the 
universe. Now mark the beauty of the parallel. Jesus " took our infir- 
mities and bore our sicknesses," just as He bore sins, and thus He "made 
an end " of the former, precisely as He did of the latter. His Atonement 
therefore makes it possible for us to live, as Moses did, and serve Him in 
health of body, as well as in holiness of heart, " all the days of our fife ;" 
and it has provided that we shall be deliverd bodily from the physical 
death which is the natural result of sickness. But just as before, this 
latter deliverance is potential ; we have it in the promise. The actual 
day of its physical realization has not yet come, although we" confidently 
believe it to be close at hand, when the " Lord himself shall descend from 
the heavens with a shout, and the dead in Christ shall rise first." " We 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 67 

shall all be changed, in a moment, in the twinkling of an eye." " This 
corruptible shall put on incorruption, and this mortal put on immortality." 
Mark the parallel, here clearly and beautifully set forth. ( The corruptible 
soul, which still is peccable shall put on incorruption, and be safe forever ; 
while the mortal body which is still liable to the effects of disobedience 
shall put on immortality, and thereafter laugh at death to all eternity. 
This sin and this sickness are alike the handiwork of Satan; but the 
beloved disciple assures us that " For this purpose the Son of God was 
manifested, that He might destroy the works of the devil." — 1 John iii. 8. 

Ps. xc. 3, plainly states God's method : " Thou turnest man to destruc- 
tion (hands him over to the adversary); and sayest, Keturn ye children of 
men," when he is humbled by the punishment God holds out mercy). 

So also the case of Hymeneas and Alexander, whom Paul " delivered 
unto Satan that they might learn not to blaspheme." Also the great King of 
Babylon, who spent seven years as a beast, in order to learn the same 
lesson. 

But an objection arises. There are undoubtedly numerous places where 
God said, "I send sickness," ' 'I will smite," etc. etc. These verses are 
many, but a sample of them all may be taken from Deut. xxviii. 58-61. 
"Then the Lord will make thy plagues wonderful, and the plagues of 
thy seed, even great plagues and of long continuance, and sore sickness, 
and of long continuance. Moreover he will bring upon thee all the dis- 
eases of Egypt, which thou wast afraid of ; and they shall cleave unto 
thee. Also every sickness, and every plague which is not written in the 
book of this law, them will the Lord bring upon thee, until thou be de- 
stroyed." Or this, from 1 Sam. ii. 6.: "The Lord killeth and maketh 
alive; he bringeth down to the grave, and bringeth up." 

I do not pretend to fathom the entire "mystery of iniquity;" nor to tell 
how or why the devil and his ministers still are found in heavenly places ; 
(Eph. vi. 12 margin) but I surely know that sin is the primal source of all 
the ' ' ills that flesh is heir to, ' ' and that the devil is the particular father 
of sin. And I further know that the devil is "he that hath the power of 
death," — Heb. ii. 14. ]STow it is true that the record speaks of God as 
sending the plagues of Egypt, the plagues in the wilderness, the fiery 
serpents, and of the "Angel of the Lord" as executing the terrible 
judgment of the passover night, and as destroying Sennacherib's host, as 
as well as the Israelites in consequence of David's sin in numbering the 
people. All this and much more is well known, and I never thought of 
slighting, much less of denying it. Now let us squarely face the apparent 
dilemma. 

Suppose it be admitted that these afflictions, with many modern ones, 
issued directly from the hand of "the Angel of the Lord," what of it? 
All that we are required to do is to turn to Ex. xv. 26, xxiii. 25, Deut. v. 
38, vii. 15, and the rest of the many references in this book, to see plainly 
that these things never came except as a consequence of sin. Aiid we 



68 DIVINE HEAIING. 

must also observe that the most positive promises of perfect immunity 
from sickness were given again and again, contingent upon the good be- 
havior of the people. (If they sinned, sickness came.; If they kept God's 
law health remained. Nothing can be plainer than this.' But we well 
know that the real source of punishment is the sinful act. If my child 
disobeys, and I am obliged to whip him, it is perfectly proper to say that 
disobedience sends the whipping. In very truth Pharaoh's devilish sin 
sent death flying over Egypt; the great transgression of the Israelites 
sent the fiery serpents, and Miriam's offence sent the leprosy upon her. 
But let us remember that faith in the Lord saved the households of the 
Hebrews in Egypt, faith in the serpent saved the sufferers in the wilder- 
ness, and the prayer of faith saved Miriam. Those who contend that we 
ought to bear sickness with resignation will do well to consider this point. 
Did not the Lord send the fiery serpents? Yet did He not at the same 
time provide a means of escape? Ought those bitten Israelites to have 
patiently endured the bite "because the Lord sent it," or to have quickly 
looked and lived? Did not the Lord smite Miriam? But did He not 
heal her in a week in answer to prayer? Did not He smite Abimelech's 
household? And did He not heal in answer to Abraham's request? 
Gen. xx. 17. We can well believe that the "Angel of the Lord" did 
actually carry out the judicial execution of the Egyptians, Assyrians, 
and others, and that God, in these cases, took the "power of death" 
into His own hands, just as He twice did in the opposite sense for Enoch 
and Elijah. But the great fact remains that even if some sickness be ad- 
mitted to come from God, it is always a punishment, corrective or preven- 
tive, and the Son of Man is always lifted up at the same time for those 
who will look and live. 

Notwithstanding all these facts, it is entirely possible that the devil 
always is the direct agent in the coming of sickness. In the case of 
Ahab's lying prophet, 2 Chron. xviii., we are let into the secret, as we 
are in the story of Job; and in each of these a demon appears as the 
direct agent. God grants His permission of course, for without the dis- 
tinct permission of the Almighty, Satan cannot even enter a hog.7. See 
Mark v. 

There is not a single case recorded in Scripture of the Lord's directly 
smiting any one with disease as a chastening or discipline, but that we 
also read of the entire recovery of the individual as soon as the lesson was 
learned. [ And such recovery was always through faith. But we do read 
of judicial punishments sent from the Lord upon the hopelessly wicked ; 
and in such cases we find no record of repentance or cure. 

Frances Bidley Havergal, before her death, wrote a beautiful little 
book for invalids called, "Starlight Through the Shadows." It contains 
a short article dated June 2, 1878, written to prove that Satan "is not the 
usual and normal instrument" in sickness, but that it is generally from 
God, and consequently is to be endured patiently, and cheerfully "re- 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 69 

mai»ed under. " The class of verses quoted by her have already been con- 
sidered. One however deserves especial notice. Ps. xli. is cited as an 
instance of God's loving tender care over the sick, and she argues therefore, 
that the sickness could not be from Satan. The utter absence of all con- 
nection between the premises and the conclusion must be apparent to 
everyone. If we read the psalm in question we will see that David had 
the rio-ht conception of sickness. In verse 8, he says, ' ' An evil disease 
(thing of Belial, margin) say they cleaveth fast unto him, ' ' while in verse 
2 he nas already declared his belief that the Lord ' ' will not deliver him 
unto the will of his enemies." No plainer proof could be desired that 
David considered disease "a thing of Belial," (2 Cor. vi. 15,) and that, to 
him, being sick was passing under the power or will of his enemies. 

Immediately after this sadly deficient bit. of reasoning, Miss Havergal 
sets forth a logical syllogism which is much more plausible. Quoting rs. 
cxxi. 7. — "The Lord shall preserve thee from all evil," she says: 

(1) What is of Satan must be evil. God's people are preserved from all evil. There- 
fore, God's people are preserved from whatever is of Satan. 

(2) God's people are -preserved from whatever is of Satan. They are not preserved 
from sickness. Therefore, sickness is not of Satan, 

Suppose we do a little reasoning in the same fashion. David said, 
"many are the afflictions of the righteous; but the Lord delivereth him 
out of them all." — Ps. xxxiv. 19. Then as the Lord delivers the righteous 
out of all their afflictions,-*and as many righteous are not delivered out of 
sickness at all, therefore sickness is not an affliction. 

Now what is the matter with this reasoning? Just this — the premises 
stated are themselves propositions requiring proof. Or better, the premi- 
ses stated lead us to attribute perfection in graces to "the righteous" 
which it is not at all certain they possessed. l What is of Satan must be 
evil." We will not dispute that. " God's people are preserved from all 
evil." We will not dispute that in general, but it cannot pass without 
most rigid explanation. Read the eleventh chapter of Hebrews and then 
say whether, in the sense assumed by our author, God's people ever 
were " preserved from all evil." Hear the record, " others were tortured, 
not accepting deliverance ; that they might obtain a better resurrection : 
And others had trial of cruel mockings and scourgings, yea, moreover of 
bonds and imprisonment. They were stoned, they were sawn assunder, 
were tempted, were slain with the sword ; they wandered about in sheep- 
skins and goatskins ; being destitute, afflicted, tormented; (of whom the 
world was not worthy;) they wandered in deserts, and in mountains, and 
in dens and caves of the earth." 

Of course it will be at once admitted that these terrible temptations 
and sufferings were from the devil and his human agents, yet these right- 
eous men were not delivered from them. Therefore the sense in which our 
author interprets the words " from all evil" must be radically wrong. 
This is the whole secret of the defect in all such reasoning. Notice that 



TO DIVINE HEAIING. 

in this terrible list of afflictions, no mention is ever made of disease. 
Jesus promised persecutions and tribulations, but sickness never. " Him- 
self took our infirmities and bare our sicknesses. ' ' The sickness in Ps. 
xli. manifestly came upon the writer in consequence of sin, as verse 4 
plainly declares; and the sense in which our author uses the words " God's 
people, ' ' implies those who are not sinning, but who are living in perfect 
and entire conformity to His will. 

Just here is a tender point, and one requiring a delicate touch. Many 
dear people cry out indignantly, "you say sickness is on account of sins 
and from the devil. I do not believe it, for my dear mother was one of 
the salt of the earth, and she was an invalid for years. I know she didn't 
sin. ' ' Softly brother ! /I say that God alone can testify whether she 
sinned or not. Love is proverbially blind, and even if it had the eyes of 
Argus it could not see the "secret faults" which are open to the Lorcf^) 
For myself I would much rather believe that my loved one had some sin, 
some failing, some shortcoming, some refusal to follow Christ to the very 
cross, and to cry, with outstretched hands, "drive the nails! crucify me 
with him!" than to believe him afflicted with one of sin's consequences 
and punishments unjustly, he being innocentV-^ is this kind of reasoning 
that drives people to doubting God.> God called Job a " perfect man," and 
Job indignantly denied that his sickness was a punishment for sim Yet 
we know that it was from the devil, (with God's permission, and this is 
always understood in the case of the righteous) and that Job clearly saw 
the " deeper depths" and " loftier heights" from which he had been hold- 
ing back, and, so seeing, he "abhorred" himself, and repented in dust 
and ashes. Whereupon his prayer of faith was answered for his friends, 
and he was immediately healed, and given more abundantly of God's gifts. 

Kev. T. DeWitt Talmage, preaching from Isa. vii. 20. said : " God is 
so kind and loving that when it is necessary for Him to cut, He has to go 
to others for the sharp-edged weapon. ' In the same day shall the Lord 
shave with a razor that is hired, namely by them beyond the river, by the 
king of Assyria, the head, and the hair of the feet ; and it shall also con- 
sume the beard.' God is love. God is pity. God is help. God is shel- 
ter. God is rescue. There are no sharp edges about Him, no thrusting 
points, no instruments of laceration. If you want balm for wounds, He 
has that. If you want salve for divine eyesight, He has that. But if 
there is sharp and cutting work to do which requires a razor, that He hires. 
God has nothing about Him that hurts, save when dire necessity demands ; 
and then He has to go clear off to some one else to get the instrument." 

It may be true that God sometimes directly sends a sickness. We will 
not dispute the point ; but it is certain that all such cases in Scripture, (al- . 
lowing the literalness of language) come under three heads : 1. The 
judicial execution of sentence upon incorrigible sinners. 2. A sharp and 
limited punishment of believers. 3. A general plague upon a sinning 
nation. In the first case there is, of course, no repentance, no hope, no 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. It 

cure. In the second and third, the whip is lifted when the lesson is learned. 
And in neither of these is there the slightest reason for the " sickness to be 
remained under because the Lord may have sent it." On the contrary, 
we ought to pray, with Moses, " Heal her now, O Lord, I beseech thee," 
and, if faith exists, and the conditions can be met, the answer will as cer- 
tainly come. The serpent is lifted up, brother. Look and live. Praise 
the Lord ! 

The Importance of the Body. 

We now come to a fundamental truth, which has been most sadly ne- 
glected, and has been terribly overgrown with weeds. The marvelous 
consummation which Paul so eloquently depicts in 1 Cor. xv. will never be 
brought about, until these so-called poor mortal bodies have been com- 
pletely emancipated from the environment of sin, as well as from its effects. 
When " this mortal shall have put on immortality," " then," and not till 
then, shall be brought to pass the saying that is written, "Death is 
swallowed up in victory. O, death, where is thy sting? O, grave, where 
is thy victory ?" Dr. A. J. Gordon, of Boston, has given some attention 
to this subject, and severely commented on what he calls the "caged eagle 
theory of the body."* The devil has worked hard and with great success, 
to persuade men that the body is of no special account. This general be- 
lief of the Christian church may be summarized as follows : My body is 
a great nuisance ; it is a regular brake on the wheels of spiritual progress, 
it is continually forcing me to sin. I could be a tolerably decent Christian 
if it were not for this miserable body of mine. I make up my mind to act 
properly and put forth every possible effort of will, but my wretched body 
gives way and precipitates me into sin and all forms of evil. My soul is 
all right, it means to do well, but my body continually betrays me. It is 
a regular cage, with bars of steel, against which my poor soul beats its 
breast in vain. Heigho ! I wish I was out of it. what a glorious thing 
it will be to see it stuck in a hole in the ground, it is nothing but dirt any- 
how, and to soar aloft on spiritual Avings, as free as the air of heaven. But 
as I cannot get rid of it till death sets me free, I suppose it is necessary as 
a discipline for my spirit. And so the strain runs on. 

QTow all this is straight from Satan, without any dilution whatever. 
Your body was made, with your soul, " in the image of God." True it was 
made out of dust, but please to remember that there was not an atom of 
sin in the world at that time ; God had just made the dust, and " saw that 
it was good ;" there was no evil in it. N ow when sin entered, how was it, 
by an act of the body ? Just here we come upon the old fallacy that the 
actual body of muscle and bone is capable of sin. This is the root of the 

* See "Ministry of Healing." A book which furnishes the most absolute evidence that 
faith-healing, without the use of means, except the Scriptural ones of "anointing with oil," 
and " laying on of hands," has been practised in the church, all along the centuries, from the 
time of Christ to the present. It can be obtained at the Willard Tract Repositories, and 
from booksellers generally. > 



72 DIVINE HEALING. 

whole thing. (My muscle and bone, my hands and feet, my eyes and 
tongue are merely dead matter, and are no more capable of sin or of sin- 
ning than is the marble statue. >> It is the intelligence within that sins* 
It is the mind and soul which God breathed into the dead matter and 
which alone guides that matter and vivifies it, that is capable of a volition, 
and consequently, of a sin. There are some sins it is true, which, in their 
commission, necessitate the exercise of some physical appetite or desire 
but these prove nothing. /In fact the mere physical performance of these 
acts is not, strictly speaking, the sin at all.^j The gratification of lust 
is of course an outward sin of commission; but the real sin antedates the 
physical action. "Whosoever looketh on a woman, to lust after her, 
hath committed adultery already in his heart." A man steals money from 
a drawer. The sin lies in the mental or moral act within his soul, and 
not in the physical motion of his hand. Another commits murder. The 
sin is in his heart, not in the actual physical extinction of the life per se. 
V In no one of these physical acts is there any sin whatever. The relation 
between the sexes is the most sacred known to man, in its proper place. 
The movements of the hand properly put forth, are right and necessary ; 
and even the 'taking of a human life; is perfectly sinless when the sheriff 
touches the drop. My brother, the btfciy which gives you so much trouble 
is not your physical body at all. It is the " body of sin," the " carnal 
mind," the " old man," the inbeing of sin. This it is that causes you to 
do what you hate, and to leave undone the things that you would do. 
This it is that reddens with anger, flashes with hate, burns with envy, 
festers with jealousies, puffs up with pride, exults in boasting, and destroys 
your peace. And this is that " body of sin" which " may be destroyed." 
Kom. vi. 6. This body was not made by God. It was not formed from 
the " good " dust. It did not grow in heaven. No, it was manufactured 
by Satan himself, and was infused into the first man in and through his 
primal act of unbelief . Now, praise the Lord, this cage can be broken 
open, now and here. You may be "delivered from this present evil 
world." (And you can soar just as high as you please in the atmosphere 
of perfect love and perfect peace and perfect health of soul and spirit and 
body, s A bird cannot fly higher than the atmosphere ; and so we cannot 
soar into the eternities, for we are yet in time ; but we can fly as straight 
toward the sun as ever flies the strongest eagle, and never strike any 
cage bars either. \ 

For centuries Satan has been at his old trick of quoting, or misquoting 
Scripture ; and he has systematically drilled Christians to repeat the ever- 
lasting excuse, " The spirit is willing, but the flesh is weak." They forget 
one of the chief names of Jehovah in the old time : " The God of all flesh." 
He it is who, when Sarah laughed at what she believed to be a physical 
impossibility, said in tender reproach, " Is anything too hard for the Lord ?" 
Gen. xviii. 14. And He it is who told the weeping prophet, " Behold I 
am the Lord,, the God of all flesh : is there anything too hard for me V 9 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 78 

Jer. xxxii. 27. And centuries after the same God said to Paul, "My 
strength is made perfect in weakness." — 2 Cor. xii. 9. This great truth was 
thoroughly impressed upon the heart of the great apostle to the Gen- 
tiles. He never scorned his body. True, he said it was better to be 
with Christ than to remain in a sinful world, but he never hinted that he 
desired to get rid of his body. On the contrary no one has ever spoken 
so earnestly of his desire to retain it. Hear him exclaim : " For we know 
that the whole creation groaneth and travaileth in pain together until now. 
And not only they but ourselves also, which have the first fruits of the 
Spirit, even Ve ourselves, groan within ourselves, waiting for the adopt- 
tion, to wit : the redemption of our body." — Rom. viii. 22, 23. The special 
point that Paul did not wish to lose his body, but only to have it glorified, 
on account of its circumscribed conditions, is luminously set forth thus : 
" For we know that if our earthly house of this tabernacle were dissolved, 
we have a building of God, an house not made with hands, eternal in the 
heavens. For in this we groan, earnestly desiring to be clothed upon 
with our house which is from heaven. If so be that being clothed we 
shall not be found naked. For we that are in this tabernacle do groan, 
being burdened : not for that we would he unclothed, hut clothed upon, that 
mortality might be swallowed up of life." — 2 Cor. v. 1-4. 

Who but Paul so earnestly entreats us to " present your bodies, a liv- 
ing sacrifice, holy and acceptable unto God ; which is your reasonable ser- 
vice?" — Horn. xii. 1. Manifestly he is not speaking of the " body of sin " 
or the " old man," for to present sin as a holy and acceptable sacrifice to 
God would certainly be an utterly unreasonable service as well as an ever- 
lasting impossibility.* If we read the law of the sacrifices, we are struck 
with the requisition that everything and every animal which was offered 
to God, should be absolutely " without blemish;" every sacrifice must be 
a "perfect sacrifice." I do not intend to arbitrarily distort symbols, and 
of course this signified and set forth the perfect nature of the Atoning 
sacrifice of Christ. But who will dare deny that we can also find a plain 
indication of that truth enunciated by the Saviour, ' ' ISTo man having put 
his hand to the plow, and looking back, is fit for the kingdom of God?" — 
Luke ix. 62. " My son, give me thine heart," Pro v. xxiii. 26, means the 
whole of it, of course. God does not ask for a piece of it. Jesus said 
again, "No man can serve two masters," Matt. vi. 24; and the Psalmist 
assures us that God will not give his g]ory to another. All these texts 
contain the idea of a complete, unreserved, consecration and dedication to 
God — a "perfect sacrifice." But we may even go farther and say that 

* I cannot forbear calling the attention of those who believe that the seventh of Romans 
contains the experience of an "advanced Christian," to this little difficulty. If, in this 
life, the "body of death," "the old man," "the flesh," etc. etc., are essentially identified 
with the actual mortal body, how in reason can I present this body, as a "holy and accept- 
able sacrifice unto God?" And, most absurd of all, how can it be a " perfect sacrifice?" 
Yet Paul says "I beseech you to do so." 



« DIVINE SEALING. 

there is another suggestion after all this. Is it going too far to imagine 
that a perfect body presented perfectly to God, and able to run upon His 
errands of mercy in all directions, is more ' ' acceptable ' ' to Him than a 
poor, dilapidated, sickly weakling, whose every moment is necessarily ab- 
sorbed with self? You may answer that an invalid may truly serve God, 
and may manifest His sustaining grace. Yery true. Israel in Egypt, 
toiling under the taskmaster's lash could, and to a certain extent, did do 
the same; but Israel on the other side of the Red Sea, and Israel in 
Canaan, served Him much better, and spoke so powerfully of His sustain- 
ing grace, and of His conquering power, that the world rings with the 
song of praise to-day. Miriam could never have sung her triumphal 
hymn while she was making bricks without straw, but she could have 
worshiped the God of the promises. 

But we have not done with Paul. In 1 Cor. vi. 13, we read: " Eow 
the body is not for fornication, but for the Lord; and the Lord for the 
body. • ' If my body then is ' ' for the Lord, " is it not reasonable to suppose 
that a whole body is better and more pleasing to Him than a mere wreck ? 
"Know ye not that your bodies are the members of Christ." — v. 15. 
Here the apostle, beyond any possible question, speaks of our physical 
bodies. But, he says, they are "members of Christ." How dreadfully 
incongruous to think of Christ possessing "members" deformed and 
defaced by every kind of disease ; especially when we remember that dis- 
ease generally is of the devil! We can readily look upon the scar of an 
old wound, but it is hard to tolerate the presence of a gaping, running sore. 
It is a sign of corruption in the blood. " What, know ye not that your 
body is the temple of the Holy Ghost, which is in you?" The tabernacle 
was not only entirely consecrated to God, and anointed in every part, but 
it was built of perfect materials. In such a temple the overpowering 
glory of God could dwell. But how can I {if I have the light on the sub- 
ject) retain in my body a portion of the devil's work, and then look for 
the new Shekinah, the glory of the Holy Ghost to dwell within? "For 
ye are bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body, and in 
your spirit, which are God's" — v. 20. Here the apostle distinctly and 
undeniably stretches the infinite folds of the Atonement over the body as 
well as the spirit: for one, as well as the other, is " bought with a price." 

Yet again, Paul says, "know ye not that ye are the temple of God, 
and that the Spirit of God dwelleth in you? If any man defile the temple 
of God, him shall God destroy; for the temple of God is holy, which 
temple ye are." — 1 Cor. iii. 16, 17. "In whom ye are also builded to- 
gether for an habitation of God through the Spirit." — Eph. ii. 22. " But 
Christ is a Son over his own house; whose house are we." — Heb. iii. 6. 
And thus Peter speaks, ' ' Ye also, as lively stones ( are built up a spiritual 
house, on holy priesthood, to offer up a spiritual sacrifice, acceptable to 
God by Jesus Christ." — 1 Pet. ii. 5. And Paul insists, "So now also 
Christ shall be magnified in my body, whether it be by life, or by death." 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 75 

Phil. i. 20. "But the body is of Christ."— Col. ii. 17. Surely, in view 
of these marvelous texts, I should strive to welcome my Lord and Master 
into a clean house, a house free from any corruption of sin, or any of the 
remains or effects of sin. In this very line we find Paul offering his famous 
prayer, ' l I pray God your whole spirit and soul and body be preserved 
blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 Thess. v. 23. 
And then follows the glorious assurance, " Faithful is he that calleth you, 
who also will do it." Here again we see the great yearning of Paul's 
heart for the day of complete redemption when the entire man shall, in 
perfect unity of being, stand before God. But we see with renewed force 
that Paul considered his body as absolutely necessary to that glorious con- 
summation, and so he prays for the body in precisely the same language 
that he uses for the soul and spirit. Each must be preserved "blameless." 

Jude 9 testifies to the importance of the body before the resurrection 
day, in a way that is as remarkable as it is strange. There we read that 
the great Archangel Michael disputed with the devil about the body, of 
Moses. Here we have unimpeachable testimony to the practical fact that 
the devil has the power of death. Further than this, it seems as if this 
strange power of Satan over the body endures after death ; at least if the 
idea be correct that the occasion of the dispute was when Moses needed 
his body for the scene upon the Mount of Transfiguration. As is well 
known, it has been remarked that Elijah had never laid aside "His body, but 
that the body of the great lawgiver had passed under the power of death ; 
and hence it is imagined that Satan opposed even the temporary use of 
the body upon that wondrous occasion. Moses could not appear with a 
resurrection body, else Christ would not have been "the first fruits of 
them that slept." 

The thought suggested itself to my mind that the dispute may have 
taken place at the time of Moses' death. We know that Moses went up 
to the top of Pisgah, and that the Lord was there with hnn, and showed 
him all the land of Canaan. And then we are told Moses died, and the 
Lord buried him in a valley over against Beth-peor. There is an old 
tradition which has come down from the earliest times, amongst the Jews 
and Arabians, that when the moment for dissolution arrived, the Lord 
kissed him, and that the supreme ecstasy of that crowning manifestation 
of the divine love separated the soul from the body. Now, before the idea 
contained in this tradition is utterly condemned, let us consider a few facts. 
We are positively assured that Moses was not sick, but that up to his 
death he possessed perfect health and strength. Though one hundred and 
twenty years old, " his eye was not dim, nor his natural force abated." — 
Deut. xxxiv. 7. It is therefore clear that he did not die from disease. But 
in all our experience death has never been known to result from any cause 
except sickness, decay or accident. The word of inspiration settles all 
question as to each of these. There was no decay, no disease, and no 
accident. How then did Moses come to die! We might ask, how could 



76 DIVINE HEALING. 

a man be claimed by death in whom was no disease and whose vitality was 
unimpaired? This will prove an interesting problem for scientific thought. 
We have just seen that the devil has the power of death, and hence it 
folio ws tnat when the body comes to die, it must pass, in that sense, 
under the hand of Satan. (Now death in Scripture is always spoken of as 
an enemy; and in this light we see Satan standing, with scythe in hand, 
ready to cut down the body, even if the soul escapes his power. Unques- 
tionably, therefore, the devil appeared on the top of Pisgah to claim his 
dominion over the body of the greatest of the prophets. But at this point 
a wondrous vision rises before us. We see Mount Sinai " altogether on a 
smoke," and a terrible glory flashing from the thick darkness upon its 
summit. Moses has interceded for the great sin of the people, in the 
matter of the golden calf, and God has pardoned, at his word. Hungering 
and thirsting after God, Moses presses his request, "I beseech thee, show 
me thy glory. ' ' No honest prayer, from sucn a heart, goes unanswered ; 
and God said, " I will make all my goodness pass before thee, and I will 
proclaim the name of the Lord before thee. And he said, Thou canst not 
see rwy face: for there shall no man see me and live. And it shall come to 
pass that, while my glory passeth by, that I will put thee in a cleft of the 
rock, and will cover thee with my hand while I pass by: And I will take 
away mine hand and thou shalt see my back parts : but my face shall not 
be seen." — Ex. xxxiii. 18-23. And all this was wondrously fulfilled. 
" And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, the Lord, The 
Lord God, merciful and gracious, long-suffering, and abundant in good* 
ness and truth." — Ex. xxxiv. 6. 

God had nearly forty years of work for Moses then, and so He could 
not answer him any further. But the prayer remained before the throne, 
calling for the full response; just as thousands of God's servants have 
waited a score of years or more for the reply from heaven to their prevail- 
ing petitions. And now the scene changes to another mountain, and 
again God and Moses stand together looking out upon the promised land. 
The great prophet's words have all been uttered, the mighty leader's 
work is done, and his time on earth is over, " He who has the power of 
death " exuLtingly draws near to claim what he can as his prey, and the 
fatal dart is drawn. But now, after forty years, the urgent prayer of the 
thirsting soul makes itself heard,— " I beseech thee show me thy glory," 
and before death can discharge his shaft, God's mighty hand, that once 
covered Moses in the " cleft of the rock," is tenderly and lovingly with- 
drawn, and GooVsface is seen at last. Such ineffable glory is too much 
for a mortal body, and in an instant the spirit bursts all bounds of flesh 
and bone, and death is despoiled of a victim. Satan may " dispute," but 
the great Archangel replies, " The Lord rebuke thee," and Moses' body 
is laid to rest by heavenly ministers. The prayer offered upon Sinai is 
answered, after so many years, upon Eebo; and Moses sees God's face. 
The prayer for the flesh, that his feet might tread the promised land, was 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 77 

denied, and he was told to forbear asking ; but the greater request was 
finally granted. He looked upon the land and it delighted his eyes, he 
looked upon God, and it ravished away his life. Only the pure in heart 
shall see God, and none but the pure in heart will ever dare to pray, " I 
beseech thee show me thy glory." 

3. " To the Law and to the Testimony." 

A powerful argument to show that God intended the Atonement to 
make provision for the body, as well as for the soul, can be found in the 
book of Leviticus. Beginning with the eleventh chapter, and running to 
the end of the fifteenth, we have clear and specific directions for bodily 
diseases. In the eleventh chapter is laid down the distinction between 
clean and unclean beasts, with the corresponding laws of diet. 

A SANCTIFIED DIET. 

Is the eleventh chapter of Leviticus binding upon us to-day? Let us look 
at this question, for it is a very important one and has vital reference to 
the next chapter. 

People foolishly imagine that the Je^ s were permitted to eat the ox, 
and were forbidden to eat swine, hare, shell-fish, etc. , etc. , purely for 
arbitrary reasons known to the Almighty ; or that at best a mere symbol 
was desired in order to teach a spiritual truth. 

We know that in Eden man was permitted to eat of every tree, and 
told that each one was good for food, but that he was restricted from the 
tree of knowledge. And while this command had all the moral signifi- 
cance desired, it also involved injurious physical consequences in its 
disobedience, even death. JSTow Moses expressly explained to the 
Hebrews that all God's laws and statutes had a perfectly reasonable basis. 
" And the Lord commanded us to do all these statutes, to fear the Lord 
our God, for our good always, that he might preserve us alive! — 
Deut. vi. 24. These dietary laws were included in "all these statutes," 
and they were "for their good always," that the "Lord might preserve 
them alive!" There is a very important thought here for Christians who 
profess absolute and entire consecration to God. The latest modern 
science thoroughly agrees with Moses that the list of " unclean beasts " are 
without exception unhealthy, and actually injurious to the human 
system. If, therefore, I have comprehended this light upon the word, and 
deliberately eat that which God told my fellow men not to eat "for their 
good always," I may expect to be brought under condemnation for com- 
mitted sin, and possibly may experience physical punishment also. ; But 
before we go any farther let us meet and permanently settle the few 
objections which are sometimes made to this view. 

I. Peter's Yision. — In Acts x. 15, God said to Peter, " What I have 



78 DIVINE HEALING. 

cleansed, that call not thou unclean." The sheet contained all manner of 
beasts of the earth, and Peter objected to eating them when ordered to do 
so. Surely any man of common sense will admit, after a moment's 
thought, that the whole thing bears the indelible impress of purely typical 
teaching. 1. It was a vision, and not an actual occurrence. 2. Peter did 
not proceed to kill anything, much less to eat it. 3. Peter evidently did 
not attach any physical significance along the line of diet, but was wonder- 
ing what it could mean. 4. While he was thus wondering the messengers 
of Cornelius arrived, and in verse 28 he distinctly announces the purport 
of the vision, saying ' ' God hath shewed me that I should not call any 
m«» common or unclean." Kom. xiv. 14, is so obviously explained by 
the context that it needs no remark, except to say that a man's " esteem " 
for a poison will make no possible difference in the time of his funeral. 

II. Paul to the Corinthians. — In 1 Cor. x. 25-27, occurs the injunc- 
tion to eat " whatsoever is sold in the shambles," and " whatsoever is set 
before you, asking no questions for conscience sake." It ought not to be 
necessary here to say that the apostle simply referred to the one point of 
meat which had been offered to idols, only this and nothing more. He is 
plainly advising conscientious Christians to buy meat without asking 
whether it had been in a heathen temple or not, giving as a reason that 
" the earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof," and consequently, as 
the meat was created by the Lord and really belonged to him, it did not 
put any moral taint upon it if a heathen offered it to his idol. This is 
rather an unfortunate place from which to raise an objection to the Scrip- 
ture law of diet, for the apostle adds '-'whether therefore ye eat, or 
drink, or whatsoever ye do, do all to the glory of God." We can honor 
God most by simple obedience, and the commands of Leviticus and 
Deuteronomy as to diet stand without the shadow of a repeal. 

III. Paul to Timothy. — But, some one will say, " What are you going 
to do with the plain declaration of the apostle, inl Tim. iv. 4.,. "Every 
creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused,' etc ?" We respond 
by asking, What are you going to do with it ? We await your reflection 
on this. Head the whole passage. If you cut these words out and hold 
to them literally, fully, and alone, where will you be ? Set your table and 
invite your friends. Lay out your bill of fare. " Every creature is good " 
remember ; so pile them on : Cats, dogs, rats, mice, vultures, wolves, vam- 
pires, snails, worms, insects, snakes, spiders, the poisonous herbs like 
deadly nightshade, and all the list of vegetable poisons, and every repul- 
sive and unwholesome creature under the sun, for they are all "good." 
And when you sit down to eat remember "nothing is to be refused." 
Brother, if you will carry out your faith and eat the meal, we will promise 
you a sensational funeral, and will endeavor to put up a stone bearing the 
epitaph, "Here lies the victim of the " letter which killeth?**^^- 

To be serious, is it not perfectly plain that the apostle's thought con- 
tained a certain limitation on the words " every creature." But did his 






HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 79 

language give any such intimation ? It did. He is predicting that certain 
seducers will arise in the last times who will forbid to marry and command 
to abstain from meats * What meats ? He plainly says, " which God 
hath created to he received with thanksgiving" etc. Now please institute 
the simple inquiry, "What meats or creatures has God created to be 
received with thanksgiving? Even your marginal reference here will 
send you to Gen. i. 29, where the herbs were given. But, as we have 
seen, many herbs are absolutely deadly, and have been so back before the 
days of Moses. Therefore, passing over the permission to eat flesh given 
to Noah, we come to Moses and his plain and detailed directions on this 
point. Here we find a list which agrees with the best scientific opinion 
everywhere, and which has never been repealed. While some scientists 
differ as to certain creatures therein described, as, for example, the oyster, 
yet the great mass of modern testimony is summed up in the words used 
some time ago by Hall's Journal of Health, when it declared, <£It takes 
the world three thousand years to find out that Moses's laws of health 
cannot be surpassed.'' N (These word are not exact, but the sense is). 

There is a very general tendency in our day to study health laws, and 
a more moderate tendency to practise them. God is getting his "people 
gradually ready for the coming of His Son, who, when He comes, will 
desire to find us fit physical temples for the Holy Ghost, and clean in 
every particular. What a revolution it would make in the health of a 
generation of Christians if they could join in Peter's magnificent tes- 
timony, " I have never eaten anything common ortmclean." 

Dr. Adam Clark's witty grace at table, was meant in earnest, and hits 
the nail on the head ; ^Xord bless these vegetables, and this fruit and 
bread ; and if thou canst bless under the gospel, what thou didst curse 
under the law, bless this swine's flesh also.yf 

If a man so much as touched one or these unclean beasts he was 
ordered to wash himself and to be " unclean unto the even." And God 
said that if a man ate of any of these he " defiled himself," whereas God 
commanded, " Ye shall be holy, for I am holy." — Lev. xi. 44. 

When a woman bore a child, -we read that she was to be purified dur- 
ing several weeks ; and that she should then bring a lamb, and a young 
pigeon or a turtle-dove to the priest, " Who shall offer it before the Lord, 
and make an atonement for her ; and she shall be cleansed." — Lev. xii. 6, 
7. As if this were not strong enough, the eighth verse adds, in case of 
her inability to bring a lamb, that she shall bring two doves, " the one for 
a burnt offering, and the other for a sin offering : and the priest shall 
make an atonement for her, and she shall be clean." Here we have the 
idea of sin in an unavoidable bodily sickness or weakness, made specially 



* See Appendix C, for Theosophy and " Esoteric" Devilism. 
f The name of swine in the Latin is scrofula. 






80 DIVIDE HEALING. 

emphatic ; and our thoughts turn back to the primal curse on account of 
sin, " in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children." — Gen. iii. 16. 

In the thirteenth and fourteenth chapters we find the law of leprosy. 
Always considered to be a special type of sin, its method of treatment is 
very important. From first to last we find that the leper has to do with 
the priest and God. The rite for cleansing is minutely described, and 
was very elaborate. Two birds were taken ; one killed in " an earthen 
vessel over running water," the living bird clipped in the blood of the slain 
and then set free ; while the leper was sprinkled seven times with the blood, 
after which he must shave and wash. Again after seven days, he must 
shave off all his hair even to his eyebrows, and after washing on the 
eighth day, he must bring " two lambs without blemish" one ewe lamb, 
with flour and oil. These the priests took and offered before the Lord. 
The lamb was slain " in the place where he shall kill the sin offering? 
The blood was to be touched upon the tip of the right ear, the thumb of 
the right hand, and the great toe of the right foot ; and the oil was used 
in a similar manner. Then the priests offered the sin offering, and made 
" an atonement for him that is to be cleansed from his uncleannessP Now 
let us specially note that all this was to be done after the healing of the 
disease ; or in other words, when the patient possessed in his body only 
the consequences or stigma of sickness. Then follow the strange direc- 
tions as to the plague of leprosy in the walls of a house, and the visible 
appearance of it is described, with the same provision of bird's blood and 
sacrifice for its cleansing. 

In chapter xv. we read of a general class of bodily disorders, which in 
all ages have been very wide-spread, and which afflicts an enormous per- 
centage of the human race, in one form or another, sapping vitality and 
impairing the life-forces of the entire system. Yet for these also we read 
that the same general line of treatment should be followed. The individ- 
ual went to the priest, who offered " a sin-offering and a burnt-offering," 
and after certain washings he was made whole and clean. 

In these cases, and in some others, the Jews were distinctly ordered, 
as we have seen, to go to the priest and have him offer a sacrifice, and 
make an atonement for them. Beyond a doubt this indicated the necessity 
of the blood to cleanse even from sins of accident and ignorance ; but 
there is strong ground afforded also for the Atoning Sacrifice for dis- 
ease. 

But another valuable argument is found in The Law of the Priesthood. 
Reading carefully Lev. xxi. we find that no man was allowed to perform 
the functions of the office who was not perfect physically. He must be 
very careful of his body, so much so that he could not even touch the dead 
body of a dear relative ; and he could not even marry a widow. But of 
his own personal physique we find the most explicit command. "Speak 
unto Aaron saying, Whosoever he be of thy seed in their generations that 
hath any blemish, let him not approach to offer the bread of his God. For 



MEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 81 

whatsoever man he be that hath a blemish, he shall not approach a blind 
man, or a lame, or he that hath a flat nose, or anything superfluous, or a 
man that is broken-footed or broken-handed, or crook-backed or a dwarf, 
or that hath a blemish in his eye, or be scurvy, or scabbed, or hath his 
stones broken. No man that hath a blemish of the seed of Aaron the 

Eriest shall come nigh to offer the offerings of the Lord made by fire ; he 
ath a blemish ; he shall not come nigh to offer the bread of his God. He 
shall eat the bread of his God, both of the most holy, and of the holy. 
Only he shall not go in unto the vail, nor come nigh unto the altar, because 
he hath a blemish ; that he profane not my sanctuaries; for I the Lord do 
sanctify them." In close connection with this we see that a man afflicted 
with a certain infirmity which absolutely interfered with the exercise of 
full, manhood's powers, " should not enter into the congregation of the 
Lord." — Deut. xxiii. 1. 

We have already considered the New Testament argument from Eom. 
xii. 1. In Heb. ix. 22, Paul tells us that " almost all things are by the 
law purged with blood ;" and in Heb. x. 22, he speaks of " having our 
bodies washed with pure water." Peter calls the church " a royal priest- 
hood," 1 Pet. ix. 9, evidently referring to Ex. xix. 5, 6, where God said, 
" Ye shall be a peculiar treasure unto me above all people ; for all the 
earth is mine ; And ye shall be unto me a kingdom of priests and an holy 
nation." John declares, in Kev. i. 6, that God " hath made us kings and 
priests unto God," and the " new song " of the elders and the redeemed 
before the throne bore the same glad refrain. Eev. v. 10 and xx. 6. And 
Paul also assures us that we have " boldness to enter into the holiest by 
the blood of Jesus, by a new and living way, which he hath consecrated 
for us through the veil, that is to say, his flesh." — Heb. x. 19-22. Manifest- 
ly all these latter references are primarily to the soul's experience, but 
there is certainly much food for thought in these close parallels between 
the body and the spirit. If God was so pleased to see a whole body, in 
the person of His ministering priest under the old covenant, is He any the 
less pleased under the new and better way ? 

A single reference will show that able commentators have seen the 
fact, that an atonement was required for bodily disease, under the Mosaic 
economy. The Eev. Samuel Wakefield, in his Theology, while discuss- 
ing the Atonement, says, page 351 : " But in proof that the life of animal 
sacrifices was accepted in place of the life of man, we observe, that the law 
required a sacrificial atonement even for bodily disorders. All such un- 
clean persons were liable to death, and were exempted from it only by 
animal sacrifices. This appears from the conclusion of the Levitical 
directions concerning the ceremonial which was to be followed in all cases. 
' Thus shall ye separate the children of Israel from their uncleanness, 
when they defile my tabernacle that is among you.' — Lev. xv. 31. So, then, 
by virtue of sin-offerings the children of Israel were saved from a death 
which they would otherwise have suffered for their uncleanness (bodily), 



82 DIVINE HEALING. 

and that by substituting the life of the animal for that of the offerer." 
This is certainly strong enough for the preceding argument. It is then 
clear that, under the Mosaic dispensation, God was the only physician, 
and He ordained that disease should be healed and its conseouences re- 
moved, through the Atonement of blood. 

4. — Who may be Healed. 

Having established the great truths that sickness is from the devil: 
that the body is not a mere cage for the soul, but is destined to be united 
with it always ; and that disease was formerly healed, and may now be re- 
moved, through the merits of the Atonement of our Lord, we are natu- 
rally led to inquire into the extent of this gift of God in Christ Jesus. 
After every objection has been met and vanquished, the last stand has 
always been made upon the ground, " It may not be God's will to heal me." 
I have previously considered this objection in a little tract, " If it be Thy 
Will,"* but it needs some treatment here. The chief way to know God's 
will is to read His word. Let us therefore look for any directions to the 
sick which it may contain. G. W. McCalla recently compiled a valuable 
little book of Scripture texts, called, " The Word of the Lord Concerning 
Sickness," which is of inestimable value to any soul seeking light on this 
point. Now we have already seen that in the earlier dispensations God 
was the Great Physician. Abraham prayed for Abimelech's household, 
Gen. xx. 17. Moses prayed for Miriam, Num. xii. 13. We have seen that 
Moses prayed for the people repeatedly. Solomon prayed for the nation ; 
1 Kings viii. 37-39, and 2 Chron. vi. 28-30. Elisha healed Naaman ; 2 
Kings v., Hezekiah prayed for himself and again for the people ; 2 Kings 
xx. 5, and 2 Chron. xxx. 20. David prayed for himself ; Psalm vi. 2, and 
expressed his faith in the healing power of God, Ps. xxvii. 1 ; xxx. 2, 3 ; 
xli. 3 ; xci. 3-7 ; ciii. 2-5 ; cvii. 20 ; cxviii. 17. Jeremiah does the same, Jer. 
xvii. 14; xxxiii. 6. Ezekiel xxxiv. 2, 4, 16, and Mai. iv. 2, all testify of 
the same glorious truth. Besides these unmistakable texts, there is a 
large class of promises which can just as well be taken for bodily healing 
as for anything else. " Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sus- 
tain thee," Ps. Iv. 22, and " Give us help from trouble, for vain is the help 
of man," Ps. lx. 11, are good examples of these. Any trouble, surely, is 
meant ; and who will say that severe illness is not a trouble or a burden ? 
The entire list of these promises, in Old and New Testaments, can there- 
fore be readily cited to show God's will in the matter. 

But, outside of these and of the Mosaic economy, is there no direction 
whatever to the sick. Let us see. The word 

PHYSICIAN 

only occurs eleven times in Scripture. In Gen. 1. 2, we read of the 
physicians who embalmed the body of Jacob at the command of Joseph. 

*G. W. McCalla, 813 Arch St. Philadelphia. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 83 

2 Chr. xvi. 12, speaks in gentle sarcasm of Asa's great mistake in seeking 
the physicians instead of the Lord ; and of his death in consequence. Job. 
xiii. 4, gives the idea that physicians might or might not be of use. Jer. 
viii. 22, intimates that no physician could heal the disorder of the chosen 
people. Matt. ix. 12, Mark ii. 17, and Luke v. 31, each quote a Jewish 
proverb, and apply it spiritually. * Mark v. 26, and Luke viii. 43, speak of 
the woman who had suffered many things of many physicians, spent all 
her living upon them and only grew worse. And finally, Col. iv. 14, 
mentions the former profession of Luke. The word medicine is found 
only (four/ times. Pro v. xvii. 22, uses the word in a comparison, and Ezek. 
xlvii. i2^ speaks of it in a figure. While Jeremiah declares, xxx. 13, that 
there is no healing medicine for his people, but that God can heal ; and in 
xlvi. 11, he similarly uses the words, " In vain shalt thou use many medi- 
cines." We read however a great deal about Him whom we love to call 
the Great Physician ; how He healed every sickness and every manner of 
disease among the people, and never turned away a single one. " He 
healed all that were sick." The plain fact stares us in the face that the 
only human physicians mentioned in the Bible, are those who embalmed 
a dead body, those who killed King Asa, those of whom the poor woman 
suffered many things, and Luke, who changed his profession for the 
ministry, and, with the others, healed the sick by using the Lord's means. 
Matt. x. 1., Luke x. 9-17. And again, there is not a single command or in- 
timation in the whole Bible which directs the use of medicine. Certainly 
this is very singular, to say the least. 

But the singularity of this total neglect of the subject of doctors and 
remedies is fully explained, when we remember the very large number 
of references to the healing power of God. We have seen that this ex- 
tends throughout the sacred books, from Genesis to Revelation. The tree of 
life was left in Eden, and God is its sole owner and dispenser. And " he 
giveth life to whomsoever he will." Thus we find miracles of healing 
everywhere, and always by the u mighty power of God." 

If, then, God is the Healer, we only need to read His directions to the 
sick in order to know His will. Jesus Christ gave the first commission to 
the apostles thus :"He sent them to preach the kingdom of God and to 
heal the sick. And they departed and went through the towns, preach- 
ing the gospel of the kingdom, and healing everywhere," Luke ix. 1, 2- 
6. In Matt. x. we read : " He gave them power against unclean spirits, 
to cast them out, and to heal all manner of sicknesses and all manner of 
diseases," and He commanded them, " As ye go preach saying, The king- 
dom of heaven is at hand, heal the sick, cleanse the lepers, raise the dead, 

* Luke iv. 23: " Physician heal thyself " may have been a proverb of sarcasm Possibly it 
was customary to quote this saying at that time because of the general failure of physicians 
to heal anybody. It seems to suggest the idea that the profession were not ready to take 
their own remedies. In sober earnest, it was certainly a sarcastic saying, and the Word says 
it was a " proverb " in the days of Christ. 



84 DIVINE HEALING. 

cast out devils ; freely ye have received, freely give ": vs. 7, 8. When He 
commissioned the seventy disciples, He commanded them to preach, and 
" into whatsoever city ye enter heal the sick that are therein," Luke x. 8, 
9. This was certainly a free command to heal every one who came to 
them and asked for healing. Just before Christ ascended He said to His 
apostles and disciples : " And these signs shall follow them that believe: in 
My name shall they cast out devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; 
they shall take up serpents ; and if they drink any deadly thing it shall 
not hurt them ; they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover," 
Mark xvi. 17, 18. And then He said, " All power is given unto Me in 
heaven and earth," Matt, xxviii. 18 : " And lo, I am with you alway, 
even unto the end of the age "; vs. 20. But " Jesus Christ is the same 
yesterday, to-day and forever," Heb. xiii. 8 ; and if He is with us, and is 
the same, why should it not be His will to heal to-day just as much as it 
was yesterday, when " He healed all that were sick T Again, we are 
told that " God hath dealt to every man the measure of faith," Eom. xii. 
3. " Faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of 
God," 1 Cor. ii. 5, and " all the promises of God in Him are yea, and in 
him Amen, unto the glory of God by us," 2 Cor. i. 20. This plainly means 
that it is for the glory of God to fulfill His promises in and to us, at all 
times. 

In the twelfth chapter of First Corinthians we read of the existence 
in the church of " gifts of healing," in conjunction with others, all be- 
stowed " by the same Spirit, " upon various members in the church of 
that day. This follows as a natural consequence of Christ's parting 
words as recorded by Mark. The early Christian Fathers, for several 
centuries, assure us that "miracles" and "gifts of healing" prevailed 
in the church and were known to 'them as of frequent manifestation 
until the church mounted the throne in the person of ConstantineTS^ 
But all along the centuries we find record of simple faith in God's 
word being honored in the healing of the sick and in other ways. 
The testimony on this point is simply unanswerable, and convincing 
to any honest mind.* I do not adduce this evidence here, but men- 
tion it as of collateral importance. We are now simply searching 
the Word of God. It is well however to know that many of the 
children of the Kingdom have so understood the Word. 

The case of Epaphroditus, recorded in Phil, ii 25-27, plainly in- 
dicates that he had recourse to God and not to the physicians, for 
" God had mercy on him. " Now we well know that " without faith 
it is impossible to please God. " — Heb. xi. 6. Hence faith must always 
please Him. God therefore must always be glad to see trust in His 
power alone manifested by the sons of men. Again James tells us 
that "faith without works is dead," ii. 17. But what could be more 

*See Dr. Gordon's Ministry of Healing. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 35 

tangible to ourselves and to others, than to show our faith in the 
promise by our works, in actually relying on God the Unseen, for 
the visible healing of our bodies ? " That men may see your good works 
and glorify your Father which is in heaven." Then again James 
says, " Is any among you afflicted ? Let him pray." — v. 13. Now notice 
that the apostle does not promise that the affliction shall be removed. 
This point is of the greatest importance. Prayer here is recommended 
as a comfort, and as a means of obtaining grace from on high, but 
no assurance is given that th.e trouble shall be removed. The apostle 
remembered that Jesus said " In the world ye shall have tribulation," 
and " If they persecute me, they will also persecute you. " And the 
various epistles are full of allusions to the real discomfort, trouble and 
unjust treatment which may be expected by the true child of God. Those 
who sang so joyfully around the throne in John's vision, were " they who 
had washed their robes in the blood of the Lamb, and had come through 

freat tribulation. " Now with this fact sharply outlined before us, that 
esus not only does not propose to save us from trouble and affliction, 
but rather to save through or in tribulation, we are ready for the vivid 
contrast afforded by the next verses. 

" Is any sick among youf let him call for the elders of the church' and 
let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name of the Lord. And 
the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise him up; 
and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. " — Jas. v. 14, 15. 
Now no sane man can deliberately read these words without admitting 
that they plainly direct " any sick, " to call for the elders, and be anointed 
with oil in the name of the Lord ; whereupon he is assured that God will 
certainly heal him, through the prayer of faith, and that if he has com- 
mitted sin, as an exciting cause of the sickness, it shall be forgiven him. 
For those who hold authority as truth, I advise a careful reading of Dean 
Alford's comment on this passage. See Introduction, p. 17. That this com- 
mand was not given to the immediate apostolic family is proved by the 
opening words of the epistle : " James, a servant of God and of the Lord 
Jesus Christ, to the twelve tribes which are scattered abroad. " Surely 
this is sufficiently comprehensive. Now it is certainly remarkable that 
the apostle should open his letter with the caution " count it all joy when 
ye fall into divers temptations, knowing this, that the trying of your faith 
worketh patience," and should close it with a plain direction to " any 
sick, " to be cured by the Lord alone, if he considered sickness of the body 
to be in any sense essential to growth in grace. He makes no exceptions 
whatever , no limitations, but gives the broad promise to " any sick 
among you. "* And then, as is to amplify it, he adds, " Confess your 
faults one to another, and pray one for another, that ye may be healed. 

♦Undoubtedly we are to understand this now, among you who love the Lord in sincerity 
and truth. Manifestly it would be almost blasphemous for a rebellious soul, refusing alle- 
giance to Jesus, to come and ask a favor at His hands purely for selfish reasons. 



86 DIVINE HEALING. 

The effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much," — vs. 16. 
Are we to confess our faults in this year of grace ? If half the promise 
is dead, we have no business to use the other half, but should bury it also 
in the tomb of the apostles. 

But James goes further still. As if pursuing the doubts that might 
arise, about these visible physical things, he recalls the fact that " Elias, a 
man subject to like passions as we are, prayed earnestly that it might not 
rain : and it rained not on the earth by the space of three years and six 
months. And he prayed again and the earth brought forth her fruit." 
vs. 17, 18. Of course he did not mean to teach that every believer could 
pray at will for physical things, but to support faith in God's power to 
answer prayer in the domain of matter as well as of spirit. As to God's 
will in sickness, verses fourteen and fifteen absolutely settle that. Let the 
reader ask himself, if God had meant to give a promise of physical healing, 
through faith in Jesus Christ, could it have been given in any plainer lan- 
guage than we find in these verses of James' epistle ? What could God 
say 1 What could be asked of Him ? Should He have said, Let any sick 
man call upon me and I will certainly cure him by my power alone ; 
would it be sufficient ? Yet this is just what we do find in that word 
which shall never pass away, though the heavens and the earth be moved. 
God says, let any sick call for the elders ; let them pray ; let them anoint 
the sick with oil in the name of the Lord ; whereupon the prayer of faith 
shall save ; the Lord shall raise him up, and forgive his sins. Now, in 
sober earnest, what more could be asked ? If this is not clear, specific, 
and conclusive, what is ? Let some one try to improve it, if he can. 
He will fail more signally than the man who attempted to improve on the 
parables of Jesus.* 

5. — The Sin Unto Death. 

I ask the most earnest attention to this section. If it be read with 
care, and remembered, much adverse criticism of Divine healing will be 
f oypst t\ 1 1 pn 

" The number of thy days I will fulfill,"— Ex. xxiii. 26. " The days of 
our years are three-score years and ten." — Ps. xc. 10. " Bloody and deceitful 
men shall not live out half their days. " — Ps. lv. 23. " To deliver such an 
one unto Satan for the destruction of the flesh, that the spirit may be 
saved in the day of the Lord Jesus. " — 1 Cor. v. 5. " Of whom is Hymen- 
eus and Alexander, whom I have delivered unto Satan, that they may 
learn not to blaspheme. " — 1 Tim. i. 20. 

These verses bring before us the possibility of a forfeiture of the 
benefits held out in a certain class of promises. While the full num- 
ber of days is unquestionably assured, yet by wickedness this may be- 

*Let those who say that faith-healing is " only a privilege and not a command," recall the 
oft-repeated words of John Wesley, " Every command of God implies a promise," and then 
consider whether the converse is not good also, every promise implies a command. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 87 

come null ; while we see clearly that it is often necessary for men to 
sicken, suffer and even to die in order that the "spirit may be saved." 
But it is equally clear that such a dire necessity only exists because of 
their offenses, and persistence in disobedience. Had they turned to God 
earlier, it might have been different. Manifestly then these people can- 
not be healed in answer to prayer ; but we must be very careful how we 
sit in judgment on such cases. 

But there is another side to this. It is entirely possible for some of- 
fense to bar out the holiest saints from these benefits. Our friends who re- 
coil from the imputation of persistent disobedience upon their invalid 
loved-ones may take comfort here, and at the same time see nothing 
against the doctrine of Divine Healing. I repeat the thought, 
one of the holiest Christians may be unable to find healing through 
faith, not because of persistence in unbelief or disobedience, but be- 
cause of some single past offense long since forgiven. 

We are well aware that Moses, "the man of God," was guilty of an 
offense in the wilderness, for which he was forbidden to enter the land 
of promise. His heart yearned to cross over Jordan, and he, who was never 
unheard, prayed for premission to go. But God said " Let it suffice thee ; 
speak no more unto me of this matter." — Deut. hi. 26. Moses did not 
lose his spiritual standing, he did not get " under a cloud ; " he continued 
to be the friend of God, and God spake to him face to face ; yet this 
offense was " unto death." Even when God told him " thou shalt not go 
over Jordan," He gave him the unasked privilege of standing on the 
summit of Pisgah, and seeing the whole land. In no sense then was 
Moses' sin unforgiven ; but it was " unto death." 

With this clear example before us we may understand two passages in 
the New Testament. In 1 John v. 14-17, we read: "And this is the 
confidence that we have in him, that, if we ask anything according to his 
will he heareth us ; And if we know that he hear us, whatever we ask, 
we know that we have the petitions that we desired of him." This is as 
unlimited a statement as could well be framed. But one thing John 
thought necessary to guard against, and that was the very point of 
physical healing. " If any man see his brother sin a sin which is not 
unto death, he shall ask, and he shall give him life for them that sin not 
unto death. There is a sin unto death ; I do not say that he shall pray 
for it. All unrighteousness is sin : and there is a sin not unto death." 

Now the merest beginner in the Scripture knows well that " the wages 
of sin is death," and we are absolutely certain that no sin, however 
insignificant, can ever be said not to clearly merit its wages. What then 
could John mean? He distinctly affirms that "there is a sin not unto 
death." This sin we are told to pray for, and we are assured that God 
will give life. Job was directed to pray for his friends, and God said 
"lest I deal with you after your folly." — Job xlii. 8. Was this entirely 
spiritual punishment that was remitted in answer to Job's prayer ? The 



88 DIVINE HEALING. 

men who hunted out the marginal reference certainly did not work to 
support faith-healing, yet I find them connecting this verse in John with 
the one in Job, just quoted, and with Jas. v. 14, 15. Evidently they saw 
clearly that physical life is meant. To say that " there is a sin not unto 
death," means that some sins do not necessarily require eternal death or 
damnation, is to falsify all Scripture. Physical death is then the only 
possible interpretation. Some attempt to explain that the sin "unto 
death," for which we are told not to pray, means the " unpardonable 
sin." But what is or was the unpardonable sin? Simply and solely 
persistent unbelief. The ascription of the miracles of Jesus to Beelzebub 
was nothing but the expression of stubborn unbelief. JSTow it is absolutely 
evident that the prayer of faith cannot be offered for a persistent infidel 
or skeptic; hence the "sin unto death" of our text cannot be the 
" unpardonable sin." Jesus set this point beyond dispute when He said 
so often " Thy faith hath saved thee." He only healed those who believed 
enough to seek Him. 

we have additional light upon this point in 1 Cor. xi. Paul 
severely rebukes the converts for turning the Lord's supper into an occasion 
of feasting, and tells them, " For he that eateth and drinketh unworthily, 
eateth and drinketh condemnation to himself, not discerning the Lord's 
body." And immediately he adds, " For this cause many are weak and 
sickly among you, and many sleejpP Plainly he declares that many of 
these Corinthian Christians were sick because of their offense, and that 
many had died, for the same reason. Their sin was not unpardonable, 
but it was " unto death." 

There can be no doubt in any reasonable mind that these things are 
repeated in our day. Many good people, who are most undoubtedly saved, 
fall into sin through a variety of causes, and in consequence, while for- 
given, are taken from the world or prostrated beneath chronic diseases. 
Their case is analagous to that of one who has sinned away his day of 
grace. The sickness cannot be removed, and the apostle says, " I do not 
say that he shall pray for it." Many a chronic disease has been brought 
on by persistent, careless violations of a known law. The man does not 
seem to wake up to the importance of the matter, and at last, after 
repeated warnings, he is stricken down ; and like the Israelites, turned 
back from Kadesh-barnea, he cannot pass over Jordan. He may remain 
a child of God, he may worship in the tabernacle under the shadow of the 
cloud, but he must tramp and die in the wilderness.* His sin is " unto 
death." It may seem uncharitable to some, but the truth must be spoken. 
There is strong reason to believe that if the true inwardness of the early 
death of so many active, earnest Christians could be laid bare, we would 
find some sin at the root of the matter, yes, even a sin " unto death." 
Satan hates a Christian, and is always on the alert for a chance to speed 

*His body, so to speak, is justified, but not sanctified wholly; hence the seeds of sin 
(disease) remain, and cannot be exterminated, 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 89 

the fatal arrow. I do not mean to say that is always the case ; but I 
believe it to be true in the great majority of instances. It is almost 
incredible how many " good Christians " are persistent, habitual gluttons, 
stuffing their stomachs with unhealthy food at all sorts of hours ; and you 
cannot make them feel that is a real sin. They will admit that " it is not 
exactly right," but that is allX 

Paul declared that he " believed all things that are written in the law 
and the prophets." — Acts xxiv. 14. And Peter, as already quoted, testified 
that he had " never eaten anything that is common or unclean." But 
how many can join in these two utterances to-day? Thousands of 
Christians, indeed the overwhelming majority, in all lands, fill themselves 
with almost every animal expressly forbidden in "the law." Unlike 
Paul, they do not believe "all" they read therein; and are much inclined 
to laugh at any one who rises up to warn them that only evil consequences 
can be expected when swine's flesh and other food which are directly 
declared to be "an abomination" unto God, are freely indulged in. True ! the 
attention of the vast multitude may not have been called to these facts; but 
a man's ignorance of or inattention to the injurious character of a food 
will not prevent the evil results. As old Dr. Jewett, the famous temper- 
ance worker so frequently observed : ("Most men dig their graves with their 

teethX 

( Many earnest working Christians of full habit sin frightfully through in- 
temperance in the marriage relation, and yet are ready to laugh at any 
remonstrance, even when it comes from their own physician.* 
^ People say, How sad the death of such a useful man! I wonder why God ' 
took him away in the midst of his usefulness, etc., etc. There it is again ! 
JusHfke Job, laying it on the Lord. The devil took Job's children away, and 
it is extremely probable that he had also something to do with the depart- 
ure of the " useiul man." George O. Barnes, in his sharp way, says: "If I 
die before I am seventy years of age you may say the devil killed him." 
I would rather not say that in any case, for I cannot tell all that has been 
done or left undone; but I feel very sure that, in the great majority of 
cases, with adults at least, some sin has been "unto death, '>>^^_^ 

The words of the Psalmist are singularly apt. " Let their tables be- 
come a snare before them ; and that which should have been for their 
welfare let it become a trap." — Ps. lxii. 22. Truly it is a trap that catches 

*The extent of this evil, amongst the best people in the churches, is simply appalling. Men 
are paralyzed, and women die of consumption. The family physician can give the reason, — 
intemperance in the conjugal relation. The devil takes advantage of Christians on this point, 
because it cannot be publicly discussed in mixed assemblies. But every Christian, seeking 
to be entirely conformed to the will of God, should remember that bodily appetites are not 
to be exterminated, but sanctified, as much as any thing else. Every bodily appetite is right 
in it* place; but the body must "be kept under" and not allowed to rule all sense and judg- 
ment. Should I write facts which have come to my knowledge, the reader would be horrified 
beyond measure. I recommend on this subject," Princely Manhood/' S. H, Piatt, South* 
ampton, N,Y, 



90 DIVINE HEALING. 

vast multitudes of people. There is "death in the pot" (2 K. iv. 40) to 
those who " feed themselves without fear." Jude 12. Solomon asked the 
question, "Why shouldest thou die before thy time ?" Eccles. vii. 17, which 
clearly intimates that the wise man knew of no neccessity for an early 
death. 

It may be asked how are we to tell when any one has sinned unto 
death ? It is extremely unlikely that such a man will be able to summon 
real active faith in the promise. For instance, a man is seeking sanctifica- 
tion, or the cleansing from heart depravity. He is addicted to the use of 
tobacco, and will not give it up, although it rises between him and God 
every time he asks for a clean heart. Of course he will never receive the 
cleansing, nor ever feel he has faith to grasp it, while the filthy habit 
remains. A cripple told me that she was fully persuaded that healing by 
faith was not for her. There was no use arguing the case : she was con- 
vinced. Manifestly no prayer of faith could be offered for her ; nor would 
she request it. Yet she was an earnest, happy Christian. These questions 
answer themselves when they arise. " There is a sin unto death." There- 
fore, there are people who cannot be healed of sickness, but no man can 
point them out unless specially directed by the Spirit. It is ours to hold 
up the promises ; to lift up Jesus Christ as a whole Saviour, and, sure as 
the Eternal Himself, he who looks in faith, will live. 

6. — The Perfect Means. 

It is in very truth a perfect recipe. But then all God's commands and 
statutes are perfect, and perfectly adapted to all men. Examining these 
directions to the sick, we see, first of all, that perfect humility is necessary. 
Many a man will cry to God in secret, who will never let others know of' 
his desire ; but here he must first " call for the elders of the church." In 
order to do this he must feel that others are of more importance before God 
than himself, and also that he is willing publicly to confess his desire, his 
helplessness, and his faith in God. Ah! confession is ever necessary. 
We must honor Jesus before men. Just here Hezekiah failed. The King 
of Babylon sent to inquire concerning the " wonder that was done," but he 
displayed his riches instead of testifying to God's power. 

Having thus prostrated self and confessed his belief, he is to be " anoint- 
ed with oil in the name of the Lord." The old, old symbol and sign of 
perfect and entire consecration to God is here used, speaking of the fact 
that he who would receive from God, must belong to God, and that God 
knows no divided worship. 

Again, this rite, enforces the truth, that " God's ways are not our 
ways." Man seeks health through the medicaments of science, but God 
heals through simple faith, or if you please, blind belief in a power that is 
absolutely unknown and incomprehensible. And with this comes the 
thought, we must take God's gifts in God's way. Jordan is no better 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 91 

than Abana and Pharpar, nor so good to the eyes of man, but Naaman 
will never get rid of his leprosy till he goes and dips seven times in the 
muddy stream. 

Just here we come upon the idea of absolute, unquestioning obedience : 
the first law of the universe. " To obey is better than sacrifice." How 
many will gladly sacrifice time and money in pursuit of health, who will 
not travel the path to Jordan's lowly bank. The great Assyrian general 
has a vast army still living. 

So far, direction for human action and obedience. Now we have the 
promises of God. " The prayer of faith shall save the sick." A great 
deal is implied in these words. It is not said that the prayer offered shall 
be efficacious, but " the prayer of faith." In the days of Christ's earthly 
ministry it is highly probable that the individuals who came to Him for 
healing, had real faith, not only in His power, but in his willingness to heal. 
In modern times, experience teaches that the faith required must be found, 
not only in the " elder," but in the patient. ISTo elder or collection of 
elders can bear up, by their own faith, a patient who, in the possession of' 
his fa'culties, withholds his own personal confidence and trust in God, as 
being both able and willing. Again, the " prayer of faith" cannot thus 
be jointly offered if anything whatever stands between the patient and 
God. Examples of this have been frequently observed by all who pray 
with the sick. It is apparent that the patient is not in the proper condi- 
tion of mind and attitude of soul ; he is not " on believing ground," and 
hence we cannot feel any confidence in praying for him. In other words, 
true, realizing faith in God cannot and does not exist in a soul which, in 
any way whatever, holds back " part of the price." Many of the " best 
people in the world," when brought face to face with God in dire 
extremity, evince an unwillingness to give up some special appetite, or 
passion improperly indulged, or refuse to become absolutely nothing in 
God's hands. r v They are not willing; to he, to do, and to suffer, to the very 
uttermost application of these verbs.^ Some action, some confession, some 
fear of people's opinions, and of what men will say of them ; an unreadi- 
ness to devote every moment and every ability entirely to God ; a desire 
to retain some small portion at least of this world's goods, social standing, 
amusements, and employments ; some liking for tobacco or other sensual 
indulgence, or a desire to be healed simply to be rid of discomfort and not 
solely for the glory of God : one or more of these things stands between the 
soul and God. In all such cases " the prayer of faith" is simply impossible. 
The elder may be pure in motive and strong in trust, but it will avail 
nothing for the ultimate end in view, until the way is clear. There is 
only room upon the bridge of faith for Jesus and- the naked soul. Now if 
this complete " prayer of faith" be offered, if all these conditions be fully 
met, God is pleased, and, more certainly than that the heavens and the earth 
exist, " the prayer of faith shall save the sick." Jesus himself said, more 
than once, " thy faith hath saved thee." I mean what He meant. Faith 



92 DIVINE HEALING. 

is the hand with which I reach out and take the benefits of the Atone- 
ment. 

" And the Lord shall raise him up." The excellency of the power is 
of God and not of us. " We must believe that God is, and that he is the 
rewarder of them that diligently seek him ;" but He alone does the work. 
A man, alone in a boat, without sail or oar, throws a rope to the steamer, 
and is drawn along with speed and safety. So we throw out the rope of 
faith, and Jesus draws us into the harbor, while we sit and sing praises to 
the " mighty power of God." The promise is just as absolute as any in 
Scripture, and God always fulfills His word, we must notice here that 
nothing is said about the precise manner, nor the time of the raising up. 
It may be instantly • it may be gradually. Cases have been known where 
the patient has been directed to certain special remedies, in such a way as 
to leave no doubt as to God's will in the matter. I am not at all prepared 
to take the extreme position that God does not sometime use visible 
means. He employed the east wind to open the passage through the Bed 
Sea, but used no such manifest agent at the Jordan. God is not to be 
circumscribed. He is not to be shut up behind a cast-iron barrier. He 
sometimes makes apparent exceptions, and perhaps real ones, to his 
ordinary methods and rules. 

But that the whole tenor of the Scripture is unfavorable to the use of 
drugs, is unquestionable. The general doctrine is certainly " I make alive 
— and I heal." — Deut. xxxii. 39. 

" And if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven him. " Here 
we see the wondrous liberality of God's grace. Not only healed, in body, 
but cleansed in soul. There is, however, a very clear inference here that 
is extremely important. It appears, from these words, that the apostle, 
and the Holy Ghost who directed him, fully appreciated the close con- 
nection between sickness and sin. First, it is plain that the sickness is a 
result of sin {probably in the patient, but certainly somewhere) ; and second- 
ly, that God will not heal without also forgiving. (In nine cases out of ten 
sickness is caused by some personal sin ; %n which I include all violations 
of the strict Biblical laws of health, diet, etc. Of course the Sin-Bearer will 
not remove the effect and leave the cause ; so the sin must be forgiven. 
This is strong testimony to the truth of the idea, previously advanced, that, 
even in miracle, God does not actually break His laws, but uses other laws 
to remove the cause as well as the effect. I take it that God's law, if law 
at all, is a truth ; and, of course, God cannot break a truth, for that would 
be destroying Himself, who is truth. The word law is here used in the 
sense of a principle. But God has "statutes" which may be changed when 
He sees that is best. This He has done. He has "blotted out the hand- 
writing of ordinances that was against us" — Col. ii. 14. But where has 
He annulled the provisions for health ? In healing the disease, Jesus 
forgives the sin ; and thus the glorious Atonement is used, in its full- 
ness. Many a sufferer is compelled to exclaim, I suffer justly, I brought 



KEPT FROM SICKNESS. 93 

it on myself.) True, but the Great Physician will forgive the sin, and 
bear the sickness for you. Truly this way of physical life in Christ Jesus, 
like all the ways of God, is a perfect way. 

How beautiful and helpful it is to thus trace out God's teachings. 
What could be more complete, or more satisfying to the Christian than 
this Scriptural means of Healing f We have seen that it requires humility, 
confession of faith, absolute consecration and surrender, implicit obedience 
and living faith in God's word ; and it promises and sets forth salvation 
from sickness, this to be by the hand of God alone, and complete cleans- 
ing from sin in the soul. What child of God can ask a better way ? And 
finally, in these acts of consecration and faith, we find the suggestion of 
the great underlying principle, that ^God is alvmys ready to give Ivfe to man, 
if only man will devote the life to God. . God's salvation for the soul re- 
quires that the " new heart " be entirely given to Jesus ; and God's salva- 
tion for the body stipulates that the new physical energy be devoted to 
His service. Praise the Lord ! 



CHAPTEK IY. 



KEPT FROM SICKNESS. 



" Himself bore our sickness. " — Matt. viii. 17. 
'■' I will take sickness away from the midst of thee." — Ex. xxxiii. 25. 

If, when I read, " Who his own self bare our sins in his own body on 
the tree, that we, being dead to sins, should live unto righteousness" (1 
Pet. ii. 24), I am authorized to believe that the words mean just what they 
say, and indicate that Jesus has actually borne all my sin of commission 
and of principle, of act and of depravity ; surely when I read that " him- 
self bore our sicknesses," that he lifted them up as a load, etc., I must in- 
fer that it is not at all necessary for me to bear sickness, any more than 
sin. (if this is not true, there is an end to all sense in language, and noth- 
ing can be predicated upon God's worcDS 

This chapter need not be greatly extended. When we have acknowl- 
edged that Jesus came to save us from all sin in " this present evil world;" 
and that sickness is a work of the devil, and allowed by God as a correct- 
ive, not merely as a judicial punishment ; we cannot possibly hesitate long 
to admit that Jesus will keep us from disease as well as from sin, if His 
conditions are met. 

This is the clear, general, logical, conclusion from the Scriptures. 
And yet it will not do to let this pass as the absolute truth without a more 
searching study. We will be led astray, in our present limited condition, 
if we take any isolated text, or even a group of texts, and carry them to the 



94 DIVINE HEAIING. 

extreme. Stockmayer says, " If the word is to remain the Sword of the 
Spirit in our hands, we must practise the Master's ' Again it is written.' 

" We read in Romans viii. 23-25, that the redemption of the body re- 
mains an object of hope, even to these who have the first fruits of the Spirit. 
Granted that the primary meaning of this redemption of our body be ex- 
emption from physical death, still we cannot claim at all times and uncon- 
ditionally to be exempt from all pain and disease, so long as we have to 
wait with patience for the redemption of the body. 

" Assured as we are that the Lord bore our sicknesses as well as our sins 
on the cross, we yet cannot place then both on a level. In the domain 
of our physical life we still groan with a groaning creation. 

" With regard to sickness our position is more difficult (than as regards 
sin). Yet even there the example of Elijah shall serve us. Let us begin 
by rooting out of our hearts and homes all Baal-worship ; let us put to 
death our own will and our own notions ; let us no longer ask whether it 
suits us or not to be ill, but simply, 'what does God expect of us, what posi- 
tion are we to take in this present case of sickness in order that God may 
be glorified V And then if God does not interpose His ' my grace is suffic- 
ient for thee,' we take God at His word and remember that sickness is not 
his chosen and final will for His children. As long as the Holy Ghost gives 
us liberty, we ask for and expect our healing with renewed assurance, 
however long and severe may be the trial to which it may please God to 
subject our faith."* 

Dr. Arthur Pierson, of Philadelphia, says, '/ 1 have never seen my way 
clear to say that no true saint should ever be ill. But I am clear that if 
our relation to Christ and the Spirit were really felt as a fact, our prayers 
would be with a faith and a power now unknown, and so far as disease is 
connected with Satan's power over our bodies, it must come to an end." 

No sin is absolutely necessary to humility, yet all holy men make mis- 
takes, and err in judgment ; while most saints at least occasionally feel 
slightly condemned for some failure to be as careful as they should. So 
sickness is not intrinsically necessary to a good discipline, and yet the 
mistakes and errors, and ignorances of life often affect the body, and bring 
some disturbance of the physical equilibrium. 

The presence of sickness cannot always be taken as a proof that the 
Spirit's possession of the man is only partial; but it may indicate the desire 
of the Spirit to teach a lesson which has been unseen through other means. 
I am not attacking the character of sick saints ; but am trying to prove all 
the possibilities of grace for mortal man. 

But the general promise stands unchallenged. " I will take sickness 
away from the midst of thee." The conditions must not be forgotten for a 
moment. They are exceedingly particular and exacting. But here is the 
possibility. Is there any ground for believing that this promise and other 

* Sickness and The Gospel, new edition. 



KEPT FROM SICKNESS. 95 

similar ones have been repealed ? ISTot the least. These promises were 
specifically in "the law." Now Paul tells us that the covenant made with 
Abraham could not be disannulled by the law although it came after. Gal. 
iii. 17. If then the law did not disannul the Abrahamic covenant, while it 
took its place, may we not infer that the new covenant of the Gospel, while 
replacing the law, has not disannulled it ? 

But we have positive testimony on thir point, for "God keepeth covenant 
to a thousand generations." — Deut vii. 9. And this is followed in vs. 14 by 
the promise under consideration, " I will take away all sickness from the 
midst of thee." Since God has joined these together I venture to say 
that since one thousand generations, at thirty years to each, equals thirty 
thousand years, it is plain that this covenant is still for us, for only three 
thousand three hundred years have elapsed since it was given. This 
argument may be novel, but in the light of other Scriptures it cannot be 
gainsaid 

Jesus Christ expressly declared that He did not come to destroy the law 
and the prophets, but to fulfil them in every* jot and tittle, and Paul's 
affirmation that "all the promises of God in him are yea and in him 
Amen, unto the glory of God by us," logically settles all debate upon this 
point. The apostle does not declare that all the ordinances and all the 
ceremonial laws are yea and amen in Jesus ; but that "all the promises" 
are to be so taken Admit if you please that we are on a higher plane of 
faith, and hence must believe harder, so to speak; yet this is only emphasiz- 
ing the conditions, not vitiating the promise. 

David tells us that the promise, was realized in the desert, "for there was 
not one feeble (sick) person among their tribes." — Ps. cv. 37. Before this 
time we have no recorded death through disease in all the long line of 
patriarchs till we come to Jacob ; and he went down to live in Egypt, the 
land of diseases. Elisha's "sickness" admits of the rendering, "weakness;" 
and only when the kingdom became filled with worldliness and sin do we 
read of Asa seeking the physicians, and Ahaziah sending to other than the 
" God of Israel." The fate of these, however, is not encouraging. 

If there is any inspiration in John's letter to the "elect lady," we must 
give great weight to the words "Beloved, 1 wish above all things, that 
thou may est prosper and be in health, even as thy soul prosper eth." — 3 
Jno. i, 2. The connection and parallel between the soul and body are 
here too distinctly established to be avoided by any effort whatever, short 
of open illogical unbelief, or reckless disregard. 

If the soul is wholly the Lord's, without any possible reservation, He 
will keep it from sickness. But in the physical parallel, there is the point 
of stumbling. It is so hard to see the necessity for sanctification in the 
body, and even harder "to present the body, a living sacrifice," when the 
duty is seen. There is a text of Scripture that should be written in living 
lignt over the daily pathway of every sanctified Christian. 



96 DIVINE HEALING. 

"Who hath despised the day of small things?"— Zech. iv. 10. 

It is the "little foxes" that spoil the vines; they don't waste their time 
gnawing at weeds , they nibble the vines that are bearing "tender grapes." 
To be plain, a weed requires strong measures to kill it, but a very little 
thing will spoil and destroy a fruitful plant. It is when we are bearing 
fruit for the Master that very little, little things stand in the way of our 
obeying the command, "come up higher." Christians who have consecrated 
every power and disposition of the soul to God, often fail signally to see 
the necessity or the method for consecrating the body also, except in ser- 
vice. (They are alive to the necessity of working for Jesus with the body, 
but the consecration of natural appetites, desires and affections is strange- 
ly wanting.^ We see some, who profess, and no doubt enjoy, perfect love 
and purity or' heart, using tobacco, over-eating or drinking, rashly neglect- 
ful of proper sleep, working eighteen or twenty hours a day, or habitually 
violating established sanitary laws. Often this is done in ignorance; they 
have not seen the light on these points. But God says "come up higher ;" 
and the bodily illness consequent upon these offences operates slowly and 
surely to open the eyes to the truth.* Well is it for them if with David 
they are at last able to exclaim, '[ It is good for me that I have been afflicted ; 
that I might learn thy statutes." — Ps. cxix. 71. Statutes are the little 
laws ; the small things ; the apparently unimportant details of the law. 
Peter exhorts us to be "mindful of the words which were spoken before 
by the holy prophets, and of the commandment of the apostles of the Lord 
and Saviour." — 2 Pet. iii. 2. — If we will simply read and obey without any 
hesitation the conditions laid down by the prophets and apostles we will 
receive the fulfillment of the promises. But this statutory obedience is so 
hard ; it seems so small, and insignficant, that the devil persuades the very 
best Christians too often to neglect some little detail ; and thus he frequently 
secures, the entering wedge for a sickness. Read Jeremiah xi. 1-10, and 
see how God represents Himself as "rising early and protesting, saying, 
obey my voice." Oh! this obedience ! this obedience ! how hard it is for 
us all ! 

The cont'ext in Peter warns us that "scoffers" always begin by ridicul- 
ing some— to them — unimportant word of Scripture, and that their ridicule 
always first takes the form of a comparison with human experience. 
Hence we need not be surprised to see so able a scholar as Dr. Buckley 
basing his whole argument against Divine healing upon the observed "phV 
nomena" of human experience, instead of upon the "Scriptures of truth." 
" Scoffers" are always alike, whether in or out of the church. 



'"* People are of ten criminally ignorant. They could easily know so much better. Some 
professors of holiness are so grievously mistaken as to suppose that the marriage relation 
gives unlimited license for sexual indulgence. A few minutes reading in any good medical 
work would convict scores of such people of real sin in this matter. But they must learn by 
the slow method of sickness and experience. 



KEPT FROM SICKNESS. 97 

A recent writer has said : "The day is dawning when men will make 
the distinction of Christian and unchristian health. Serious and intelli- 

fent people begin to perceive that it is possible to be free from sickness, 
[ultitudes already realize that good health is something for which they 
are responsible. They already begin to feel that sickness which is contracted 
by defective, low-down and self-indulgent living is a reproach to Christian 
profession. LThe true people of God are waking up to the fact that there 
are right ways and wrong ways of living?) They see that feebleness, lan- 
guor, disease, decay and premature death may be avoided, and with this 
comes the sense of moral obligation in this matter. Realizing that God in 
nature and grace intends and provides that His people shall have health, 
they will deal with sickness as an enemy and consider that in a sense it is a 
shame to them, when they fall under its cursed power, and a discredit to 
the name of Christ. 

^(Wlien the saints of God fully realize that health is preserved and re- 
stored in obedience to nature's laws and through the recuperating power 
of the Spirit of God, and that the system of drug-cure, so-called, is for the 
most part a practice harmful and deadly, founded on conjecture, specula- 
tion and experiment, that drug-doctors confess their arts inadequate to the 
recovery of the sick ; * then, to forsake the word of God and prayer, and 
the great Physician , and put the case completely into control of Christless 
quacks, and meekly swallow mysterious and horrible doses of which they 
do not even know the name or nature, will be considered a deep disgrace. 
Beloved, let us not dishoner God, and shroud the whole world in the 
gloom of deeper doubt. Defeat disease and premature death by faith 
and prayer. / - 

/Grow old along with me! 
/ The best is yet to be, 

I The last of life for which the first was made; 
Our lives are in His hand 
"Who saith, 'A whole I planned,' 
Youth shows but half; trust God, 
See all, nor be afraid. " 

" < Glory to God. Every thing shall live whither the river cometh.' 
— Ezk. 47; 9." 

The above language is rather vigorous, but the main points are well 
put. /^The necessity and use of physical obedience to God's statutes has 
not been taught. Ljt is not taught to-day, except in rare instances. I 
mean it has had no place in the modern pulpit. Yet it is a vital truth, 
and deserves better care at the hands of the "shepherds." Perhaps a 
more careful reading of Ezek. xxxiv, and the woe pronounced upon the 
shepherds for not healing the sick, would be conducive to a better under- 
standing of God's complete salvation. 

The case of Paul is exceedingly pertinent here. In Phil. iii. 6, we find 
a bold statement made by the apostle. Speaking of his former life, under 

, -....„ * See their admission on page 126 



98 DIVINE HEALING. 

the Hebrew faith, he emphatically declares that he was, " touching the 
righteousness which is in the law, blameless." Hereupon I declare, with 
equal emphasis, that this necessarily included or implied the testimony of 
exemption from all sickness. Either this, or God's promises were untrue. 
Paul was " an Hebrew of the Hebrews ;" and the God of the Hebrews 
had given him a number of promises like this : " If thou shalt obey his 
voice, and do all that I speak .... I will take sickness away from the 
midst of thee" (Ex. xxiii. 22, 25). "And the Lord will take away from 
thee all sickness" — if ye hearken to these judgments, and keep and do 
them" — (Deut. vii. 12, 15). Standing on these promises of Jehovah, I 
declare that, when the great apostle unhesitatingly claims a " blameless " 
keeping of the law, I must make God out untrue if I do not fully accept 
the practical fulfillment, in his case, of the promises contained in that law. 
It is simply this, my brother. God said, keep my law, and I will take all 
sickness away from you. Paul says he perfectly kept it. Therefore, Paul 
experienced the deliverance from disease.* Now this will stand as many 
turnings as a kaleidoscope, but it will never vary a hair's breadth. Paul 
here places himself on record in the same class with Zacharias and Eliza- 
beth, as those who, walking " in all the ordinances of the law blameless/' 
must have realized the promised deliverance from disease so distinctly and 
repeatedly promised in that law. Yet he did not plume himself on any 
of these things. All his gain he counted loss for Christ^ All things must 
take rank after the one great consuming thought of Jesus and His will. 
This will explain why so little is said about the body ; the spiritual was 
vastly more important. But what was said is clear and conclusive. 

The whole thing turns upon that glorious promise " If we walk in the 
light as He is in the light." (Ah ! here is the condition, we must walk in 
the light, or there will be no "fellowship" and no "cleansing from all 
sin." \ The "cleansing from all sin" is only promised to those whose 
spirits obey God in every little thing ; and exemption from sickness can 
only (through faith) be his whose body obeys in all things. Reiterate this 
again and again.x/ 

As in my own case, the great fear in this matter is that we may get 
sick, in which event others must know it, and the profession apparently 
fall into disgrace. I thank God for a revelation on this point. I saw that 
if I hesitated for this reason, it was clear that I was not delivered entirely 
from, that Spirit that " loved the praise of men more than the praise of 
God." N . The temptation was to refrain from taking so radical a ground 
for fear that, if I failed, men would know it ; whereas I might profess 
Scriptural holiness, and be conscious of sins, without any man being aware 
of my fall. Ah ! God knows. As soon as this became clear to my mind, 
I resolved, in the strength of Jesus, to confess His glorious work to the 
uttermost, and not to allow a single thought of the future to enter my 

*For the " thorn in the flesh," see page 102, 



KEPT FR OM SICKNESS. 99 

mind for a moment. Any one can see that, professing to trust Christ for 
exemption from sickness, while you are contemplating the possibility of 
speedily falling ill, is not trusting Him at all. As well might a man say, 
" I am trusting Jesus this moment for cleansing from all sin, but I rather 
expect to sin before night." Such professions are only an insult to God, 
and are miserable travesties on true faith. 

I sometimes fear that the teachings on holiness have not always shown 
that " boldness to enter into the holiest " which they should have mani- 
fested. Far be it from man to boast ; and undoubtedly the less said about 
the future the better. But when man or devil suggests the question, 
" Now do you really expect to live one year, one month, one week, even 
one da}r, without sin?" we should answer in faith, I do not expect "to 
continue in sin," but I expect the Lord to perform His word. 

The "walk with God" is the most delicately balanced union in the 
world. There is only room for Jesus and me. Everything must be put 
away, and every leading of divine love must be instantly followed. 
Temptation to sin is useful and beneficial in keeping constantly before 
our souls the great truth, spoken by Jesus, " without me ye can do noth- 
ing ;" and temptation to sickness is not wanting to remind the trusting 
Christian that Jesus alone is the " Saviour of the body." 

If I am asked what I mean by " temptation to sickness," I reply that 
Satan produces frequently upon me the preliminary symptoms of cold, 
headache, or other sickness. Instantly I look to the Great Physician and 
say, Dear Lord, thou hast taken my infirmities and borne my sick- 
nesses. These symptoms are a temptation of the devil, deliver me. And 
lo ! the indications vanish, and I am not sick at all. For five years I have 
known temptation to he sick, just as distinctly and unquestionably as any 
temptation to sin. But the dear Lord always keeps His word, and " with 
the temptation provides a way of escape, that I may be able to bear it." 
Glory be to His name alone! In this way the "keeping power" against 
sickness is made just as much to depend upon, or to work through faith, 
as in the case of sin. I cannot rest upon past pardon ; I must trust to be 
kept in the cleansing fountain to-day. And just so, I dare not rest upon 
yesterday's healing, but am constrained to actively trust, as I breathe, 
momemt by momenta 

The life of faith, in any path, is a life supported oy only one hveath at 
a time. 

Unless Christ came to destroy the law and the prophets, it is then clear 
that perfect physical obedience to-day, secures the right to expect health 
of body as well as perfect spiritual obedience secures soul-health. Or per- 
haps it would be better to say that complete obedience to all God's 
statutes, warrants the expectation of health of soul and body together. \ I 
have no thought of writing this chapter to prove that the most saintly 
Christian who carelessly or even ignorantly abuses his stomach, exposes 
himself to draughts and dampness, keeps all sorts of hours, or in any other 



100 DIVINE HEALING. 

way breaks God's nealth laws, has any right to expect this immunity .\ He 
may continue well in spite of these offenses. Some do ; but that proves 
nothing. In fact, we may inquire, are such as healthy as they would be 
if more careful ? And we know that God is " long suffering." 

On the other hand, the case of Job undeniably establishes the fact that 
God may see fit, for disciplinary and educational effects on the individual, 
and for the display of the strength of His grace, to allow a man whom He 
pronounces " perfect," to pass under the power of the adversary for a 
time, and to be diseased, although by reason of his obedience he has the 
right to expect health. Such a trial is a severe one to pass through, for 
the soul, like Job, feeling sure of its integrity, is tempted to wonder if God 
has forgotten His promises. Job was certain he held God's note ; but he 
marveled that the bank of providential circumstances refused to discount 
it immediately. 

But he never seems to have thought of taking it anywhere else. He 
endured to the end — the butt and ridicule of all his friends — and was saved. 
May God multiply his seed in these days, and help them to cry, "I desire 
to reason with God — ye are all physicians of no value," (xiii. 3, 4). "The 
breath of the Almighty hath given me life" (xxxiii. 4). 

finally, when we pray the Lord's prayer from the heart, we ask for 
God's will to be done on earth, now and here, even as it is done in heaven. 
And again we ask to be delivered from evil of every possible kind and 
description.' Jesus Himself indited this prayer.^ Now in comparison with 
His own express promise of tribulation, persecution and fiery trial, we can 
see that deliverance from them must mean from all moral injury as a re- 
sult of their presence and power. But He never gave us any hint that we 
shall necessarily have sickness ; and as this is unquestionably "evil," deliver- 
ance from it must mean from all physical injury as a result of its presence 
and power. But as already stated, the deferment of the "redemption of 
the body" till the second Advent, and the express declarations of Scripture 
concerning death, make this parallel not quite so rigorous. When all these 
allowances have been made, however, we see clearly in the light <sf the over- 
whelming promises of the law and the overwhelming examples of the gos- 
pel that, in general, sickness is an "evil," and the Lord's final will is to put 
His own divine life in us and cause our "health to spring forth speedily." 
Isa. lviii. 8. Let us pray " Thy will be done." not merely in the sense of 
reluctant and difficult resignation to disagreeable inevitables, but with the 
definite purpose of reaching and obtaining all the high and holy purposes 
of our God in our being. \Then we will be kept by "Him who is able to 
keep you from falling, and to present you faultless before the presence of 
his glory with exceeding JOY."^>rJude 24.^; 



OBJECTIONS AND QUESTIONS. 101 

_X CHAPTEE V. 

OBJECTIONS AND QUESTIONS. 

"Be ready always to give an answer to every man that asketh you a reason of the hope 
that is in you." i Pet. 3, 15. 

1. — If Paul thought so much of his body, why did he call it his 
"vile body ?"— (Phil. iii. 21.) 

The apostle, as I have shown, was always looking towards the great 
day when Jesus shall come and bring about the full reunion of the soul 
and body in the glorified state. In this case he was expressing the same 
thought. He says, "For our conversation is in heaven ; from whence also 
we look for the Saviour, the Lord Jesus Christ ; who shall change our vile 
body, that it may be fashioned like unto his glorious body, according 
to the working whereby he is able even to subdue all things unto 
himself." The word translated vile is tapeinosis, and means low es- 
tate, humiliation, abasement. That is, the apostle spoke of his body 
being in a low estate, not the highest possible condition ; as being abased, 
not exalted ; humiliated, not glorified. It is plain, therefore, that this 
verse does not bear against our position in the slightest. On the con- 
trary, it serves to enforce the idea that a body destined for such a mar- 
velous "change," cannot for a moment be called "vile" in the sense of 
worthless or repulsive. Paul cherished his body, though it was in a " low 
estate," and ardently longed for the time when it should be glorified. In 
the same epistle he declares that "Christ shall be magnified in my body." — 
i. 20. Not the faintest shadow of an argument in favor of sickness can be 
deduced from this reference. 

2. — Trophimus. 

The case of Trophimus, whom Paul says he left behind him "at Miletum 
sick" (2 Tim. iv. 20), is of some importance. Why did not Paul pray 
over him, raise him up and take him along ? This question naturally 
occurs to the mind of an honest inquirer ; but the case can readily be shown 
to be in perfect accord with the Scriptural doctrine of healing. For two 
years, at Ephesus, and for three months, at Miletum, Paul had healed the 
sick continually, and not one single case of failure or incomplete restoration 
is even hinted." ]STow was Trophimus affected with a disaster that defied 
the power of God ? Did Paul fail to pray with him \ Or was it the Lord's 
will for him to be sick ? 

Dr. Boardman, in the "''Great Physician," has treated this point with 
ability. He presents the idea that Paul was on his way to Rome, a pris- 
oner. Trophimus was not obliged to go, and very probably the Lord 



102 DIVINE HEALING. 

wanted him to stay behind. So, just on the eve of the vessel's departure, 
Trophimus was taken sick. Of course he and Paul prayed for healing, 
but in this case it was delayed. Paul went on to Kome, and Trophimus 
was left to work for the Lord in a different sphere. Paul was not a stranger 
to gradual healing, for he had seen Epaphroditus sicken, and though he 
prayed, yet the patient drew "nigh unto death" before the turn came and 
the Lord raised him up. — Phil. ii. 25-29. This accords most fully with 
the timeless nature of the promise in James. "The Lord shall raise him 
up," gives no time, but the fact is as true as God's inviolable word. 

But there is another thought about this case. We have not any record 
of Trophimus' personal experience. We know he was a Christian, a com- 
panion of Paul's, an Ephesian, and a worker in the new cause. But we 
do not know his precise inward experience, as in the case of Paul. Now 
it is perfectly possible that Trophimus made a mistake, or that he did not 
absolutely follow the leading of the Holy Ghost. He loved Paul, and de- 
sired above all to keep his company. We will suppose that God desired 
him to enter another sphere of labor, and that, very possibly, certain deli- 
cate indications of the divine call had reached him. But his affection for 
the great apostle, and his own soul-joy in his company, persuaded him to 
close his eyes to anything else, and he determined to go to Borne. Then 
sickness fell upon him. He could not go ; but he could pray. Yet though 
he prayed, and Paul himself doubtless interceded, he could not be raised up 
till he had seen and accepted God's will. This he did not do until the ship 
had gone and the thought of Rome had been banished from his mind. 
With the bias removed, there is no doubt that God's leading became plain, 
and that Trophimus arose and went to work where God called him. Again 
God may have made of him a case like that of Job. Of course, all this is 
theoretical and inferential, but it is entirely possible. Finally, there is noth- 
ing at all in this case to shake for a moment the belief in God's plain 
promise. 

3.— Paul's Thorn.* 

In the case of the apostle, we are confronted by the fact that he re- 
peatedly relates his experience ; and protests that God "always caused him 
to triumph in Christ." He furthermore distinctly avers that he "fought a 
good fight," and even set himself up as an example for others. See 1 Cor. 
xi.1,4,16., Phil. iii. 17., 1 Thes. i. 6, 7., 2 Thes. hi. 9., 1 Thes. ii. 10. In 
other words, Paul made the most unhesitating profession of personal cleans- 
ing from all sin. Now if Paul became sick, is not the whole doctrine of 
this book overthrown at once % Let us see. 

Paul had a "thorn in the flesh." Like most other matters concerning 



*Dr. Adam Clarke stoutly maintained that the "thorn" was an evil-minded person who 
was stirring up trouble in the church. He scouts the idea that it was any sickness at 
all. See Clarke's Commentary. 



OBJECTIONS AND QUESTIONS. 103 

him, this fact comes from his own mouth, in open confession. He was 
wonderfully fond of "confession with the mouth." In the first place no one 
can deny that this "thorn" never clouded Paul's faith in God's willingness 
to heal everybody else, of any possible affection. The record of his work 
absolutely establishes this. Dr. Boardman pertinently asks, "Why then 
should it cause us to doubt ? " Further, we see that he himself had no 
doubt about it, but took it straight to the Lord. Three times he prayed, 
and the trouble still lingered. Why was this ! Had Paul reached a plane 
upon which temptation was impossible ? Did his faith not need exercise ? 
Did he forget Abraham, and Elijah, and the widow before the unjust 
judge ? No. He exercised faith, and it grew so strong that God answered 
him, and distinctly explained the whole matter to him. The "abundance 
of the revelations" made to him had been so great and so unspeakable, 
that this "thorn" came to "buffet him," "lest he should be exalted" by the 
marvelous favors shown him. The whole aim of the thing was to establish, 
as never before, in the apostle's heart, that even he, with all his revelations, 
was absolutely nothing apart from Jesus. It was not what he had been 
forgiven, not what he had received, not the measure of blessings he felt 
and experienced, but the personal abiding presence of Jesus, excluding and 
exterminating any possible form of self in the inmost soul. This was the 
lesson, and Paul learned it, and exulted in the knowledge, glorifying God, 
—2 Cor. xii. 7-10. See also xi. 30. 

In Gal. iv. 13, 14, Paul says : " Ye know how through infirmity of the 
flesh I preached the Gospel unto you at the first. And my temptation 
which was in my flesh ye despised not." It is likely that this refers to a 
different affliction from the " thorn," but whether referring to chat or 
not, two things are plain. 1. Paul recovered from this, for it was only 
" at the first." 2. It was a " temptation in the flesh." Now God " tempt- 
eth no man ;" hence this sickness was not from God direct, but probably 
from Satan, as the "thorn" certainly was. The opponents of Divine 
healing will find cold comfort in Paul's experience. 

There are several points in this case that are important. First, the 
word translated "infirmities," is astheneia, meaning literally weakness. 
It is the same word rendered in vs. 9, " weakness," and in vs. 10," weak ;" 
also in xi. 30, " infirmities," and xi. 29, " weak." I am not stickling for 
a shade, but it is plain that anything like virulent disease is not indicated 
in the text. This is amply sustained by the personal history of the 
apostle. One thing is certain, that the "thorn" never prevented him 
from working " more abundantly than all " the rest of his brethren ; and 
he distinctly affirms that he "ceased not to warn every one night and 
day with tears" for a "space of three years." — Acts xx. 31. He must 
have enjoyed very good health during that long ministry ; and when he 
died, it was not from any sickness, or even a " thorn in the flesh." It is 
then clear that Paul's "thorn" was in no sense a disabling affection. 
The Lord did not allow it to stop Paul's work, but to make him more 



104 DIVINE HEALING. 

fruitful. You, therefore, who are seeking consolation in utter prostra- 
tion under permanent disease, will not find any reason for continued inac- 
tion in this record. Paul said, " Christ shall be magnified in my body, 
whether it be by life or by death," — Phil. i. 20 ; but he emphasized the fact 
that, if he lived, it was to " labor," vs. 22, not to lie idle upon a sick bed. 

We may assume from the facts that there is no necessity for a " thorn 
in the flesh," such as tormented Paul, unless, like him, we have been 
" caught up into the third heaven." Also, that if a " thorn " has made 
its appearance, we have Paul's example for steadfastly praying in faith 
for its removal, until we get an answer from the Lord, about which there 
can be no mistake. 

But further, we are led to inquire as to the nature of the " thorn." If 
it was not active disease, what was it ? There are two well known suppo- 
sitions on this point. One is that his eyes never entirely recovered from 
the blinding effect of the light on the Damascus road. The other is that 
his " bodily presence was weak, and his speech contemptible." — 2 Cor. x. 
10 ; and these physical deficiencies constituted the " thorn." Now noth- 
ing could be more absurd. His eyes were good enough to enable him to 
write, " with his own hand," those closely covered parchment rolls, the 
transcribing of which taxes good eyesight to-day. But his own words 
absolutely settle both these points. If the "thorn" had been in his eyes, 
it would have dated from the day of his conversion ; and the supposed 
defect in appearance would have been much older. But his express 
language is that this " thorn " was given him to keep him from being 
exalted by the wonderful revelations vouchsafed to him, long subsequent 
to his conversion. Again in 2 Cor. x. 11, Paul sharply declares that the 
talk about his insignificant presence and contemptible speech was utterly 
false, and avers that his word of mouth will be found fully equal to his 
pen. He as plainly declares as language can express it, that this was a 
miserable slander, originating among his enemies. " For his letters say 
they are weighty and powerful; but his bodily presence is weak, and his 
speech contemptible." Note that " they " say this ; but the apostle denies 
it point blank, and declares that they will find him to be exactly what 
they read him. { There is not a particle of real evidence to show that Paul 
was little, or thin, or crooked, or weak of speech ; but a great deal to the 
contrary. £> His own denial, quoted above, should be sufficient ; and the 
fact that at Lyconia the people called Paul Mercury, who was the very 
personification of eloquence, sufficiently attests the power of his speeehTx 
And then let us remember his address before King Agrippa, and forever- ~ 
more give up this absurd tradition of the Middle Ages that Paul was a 
sort of mumbling dwarf. Still further, he specially informs us that the 
" thorn " was " the messenger of Satan." What frightful blasphemy it 
would be to assume that a partial blindness, caused by the visible mani- 
festation of Jesus Christ, could by any figure of speech, be called " the 
messenger of Satan!" And almost equally abominable would be the 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 105 

application of these words, to the natural stature and appearance of the 
body, which owes its very existence to the creative power of God. 

It is noteworthy that Paul speaks of his trials in detail, but does not 
mention sickness. In 2 Cor. vi. 4, 5, he writes, " In much patience, in afflic- 
tion, in necessities, in distress, in stripes, in imprisonment, in tumults, in 
labors, in watchings, in fastings." And in the eleventh chapter he enu- 
merates again his persecutions and troubles. " In labors more abundant, 
in stripes above measure, in prisons more frequent, in deaths oft "(see 1 Cor. 
xv. 30, 31, 32 ; 2 Cor. iv. 8-11, vi. 9). " Of the Jews five times received 
I forty stripes save one. Thrice was I beaten with rods, once was I stoned, 
thrice I suffered shipwreck, a night and a day I have been in the deep; 
in journeyings often, in perils of waters, in perils of robbers, in perils of 
mine own country men, in perils by the heathen, in perils in the city, in perils 
in the wilderness, in perils in the sea, in perils among false brethren. In 
weariness and painfulness (mochthos — labor, toil), in watchings often, in 
cold and nakedness." The " thorn" is mentioned in the following chap- 
ter, so that we have here the strongest reasons for believing that Paul had 
no sickness or disease, properly so called, in all this previous experience, 
for no word of such a trouble is found in the terrible catalogue of his afflic- 
tions and persecutions.* After all the " thorn" may not have been a real 
disease, as Dr. Adam Clark maintains. 

It is perfectly clear then that the "thorn" was a special affliction sent 
upon Paul after his marvellous experience, for the special purpose of caus- 
ing him to rety, not upon the gifts of God, but solely upon the giver 
Himself. And even this affliction or sickness is expressly stated to have 
emanated from Satan. But it will be urged that after all has been said 
does not this case disprove the provision in the Atonemeut for all sickness? 
This brings us to a very special question under the subject of the thorn. 

Did Paul Recover ? 

Do not be startled. Let us carefully and prayerfully examine the 
record. " To the law and to the testimony." without question there is 
no ground in Paul's case for any doubt as to God's willingness to heal all 
disease. This has been abundantly shown already. But I do not feel it 
right to relinquish the matter at this point. Is it true that Paul prayed 
three times, but that God refused to grant his request, while promising him 
grace to bear up under the affliction ? I unhesitatingly affirm that 

The Thorn in the Flesh was Healed^ 
The only case in Scripture similar to this is that of Moses, when he 

* Unless we except 2 Cor. i, 8-11. But this distinctly states that he did not trust in man, 
but " in God who raiseth the dead." And God delivered him. 

f Even after all these years I believe I am the only writer who has advanced this thought. 
But after a great deal of added light, I see no reason to alter my opinion. 



106 DIVIDE HEALING. 

besought God to let him pass over Jordan, and the Lord told him not to 
speak any more concerning the matter. But the two cases are not at all 
analogous. Moses had sinned, and God's word had gone forth, " because 
ye believed me not to sanctify me in the eyes of the children of Israel, 
therefore ye shall not bring this congregation into the land. " — Num. xx. 
12. 

When, therefore, Moses asked to go over Jordan, he asked God to 
break His word. It could not be; but, as we have seen, the Lord bore him 
over a better Jordan, into a fairer land. But Paul's thorn was not puni- 
tive; it was a preventive. So he distinctly states. And when he prayed 
for its removal, he asked God not to break His word, but to destroy one 
of the works of the devil ; the very thing Jesus Christ came to do. 

If it be argued that the apostle continued to need the thorn, and there- 
fore God could not, in wisdom, grant this request ; I reply that, if this be 
true, it follows that Paul did not learn the lesson which the thorn was 
sent to teach. God would certainly not allow a " messenger of Satan to 
buffet " his chosen apostle, except for a purpose. That purpose was to 
teach Paul that he was nothing but weakness, apart from Jesus, a This 
we are distinctly told. Now, if the thorn remained, it was solely because 
Paul did not learn the lesson. But he did learn it ; nothing can be more 
positively certain than this. To suppose that Paul felt the thorn, real- 
ized what it was for, had God's word for it; and then, cherished the thorn, 
refusing to accept and apply its teaching, is to suppose that the apostle 
was openly rebellious, and willfully sinful, even when he said, " I always 
triumph in Christ." If any Christian can accept this dilemma, let him 
do so. 

But it maybe answered, look at the language used ; does it not say that 
the Lord told Paul he should have grace to endure ? No, it does not. 
The facts are these. Paul prayed. No answer. Paul prayed the sec- 
ond time. No answer. With undaunted faith, Paul prayed the third 
time. And unless he had less faith than Elijah he would have kept on 
seven times, if necessary. But at the third request, God answered. He 
said, " My grace is sufficient for thee. " The word translated sufficient 
means suffice, satisfy. When we remember that we are " saved by grace, " 
Eph. ii. 5-8, it is easily seen that the word " grace, " in the text, may 
well have the element of salvation in it. In fact the idea of salvation is 
inseparably linked with the word in all the Scripture. Now God told him 
" My grace is sufficient, or satisfying. " This would surely accord with 
all Scriptural analogy, if we understand the reply to be an assent and not 
a denial. Suppose I should go to God with a besetting sin, a regular 
and genuine " messenger of Satan, " and cry for deliverance ; only to be 
met with the assurance that I should receive grace to bear it % What ! 
to hear a sin ! To retain that which is hateful to God ! Grace to sin, 
and to bear up under it ! What a thought ! Yet here we are plainly- 
told that a " messenger of Satan," having accomplished the end for which 



EEAL1NG OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 107 

it was allowed, is to be retained and endured by grace. Could anything 
be more awfully absurd % * 

Again, Paul remarks at once ; " Most gladly therefore will I rather 
glory in my infirmities, that the power of Christ may rest upon me." 
What, Paul ! do you mean to say that you will deliberately glory in 
"messengers of Satan," even if it be that "the power of Christ" may be 
shown ? If so, how did you come to write that famous sentence, " Shall 
we continue in sin, that grace may abound f God forbid ! " Shall we 
cherish or retain any " messenger of Satan," merely that Christ's power 
may be manifested in continued deliverance ? Is that the meaning of the 
apostle ? God forbid ; indeed. How plain it is that he gloried, not that 
these things came, nor that they remained, nor yet that he was enabled 
to bear them ; but rather in that he was delivered from them. See the 
very context itself, for proof of this. He " took pleasure in infirmities, in 
reproaches, in necessities, in persecutions, in distresses." Did he take 
pleasure in these things within himself, or externally ? Did he not take 
pleasure and glory in the fact that, in the midst of the burning, fiery fur- 
nace, he walked absolutely unscorched, because one, like to the Son of 
God, walked with him, saying, Courage Paul, " My grace is sufficient for 
thee % " Paul had no belief in " imputed holiness," nor in imputed health 
either. He does not say, I am weak, but I am called strong on account of 
Christ's strength, imputed to me. But he declares, " When I am weak, 
then I am strong." How ? By the " power of Christ," in which alone " I 
glory." 

With special emphasis, he refers, in the twelth verse, to his miraculous 
gifts. He says, " Truly the signs of an apostle were wrought among you 
m all patience, in signs, and wonders, and mighty deeds." This serves to 
prove that he had no doubt as to the power and willingness of God to 
heal, for " they shall lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover," was 
one of the "signs" mentioned by our Saviour himself, as following "them 
that believe." 

The rational and Scriptural view of this case then is this. The thorn 
was sent as a precautionary measure, or a warning. It had a lesson. 
This Paul learned, and asked for healing. After a trial of his faith, his re- 
quest was graciously granted. Whereupon he praises God that in all things, 
in infirmities, persecutions, reproaches, necessities or distresses, God's grace 
is sufficient and satisfying, and gives him complete deliverance from all 
the " messengers of Satan." And in confessing this he confesses that he 
is so " weak" that he cannot save himself in the least degree, but Christ is 
so " strong," that He can and does save to the very " uttermost." 

Ah ! God is a personal God, Jesus Christ a personal Kedeemer, the 
Holy Ghost a personal Sanctifier, and the salvation of the Cross is a,per- 

* Note the force of the word " And." It is not written, I asked for it, but God said, etc. 
It is, I prayed, and God said. A very great difference. 



108 DIVINE HEALING. 

sonal salvation " in this present world." It saves the individual through 
and through. It saves him/fom, and not in or under* 

4. — The Man Born Blind. 

In the ninth chapter of John we read of a remarkable case. The query 
of the disciples, " Master, who did sin, this man, or his parents, that he 
was born blind ? " and Jesus' reply, ; ' Neither has this man sinned, nor his 
parents ; but that the works of God should be made manifest in him," 
may be cited to disprove the idea that sickness is the result of sin. The 
Lord give us light to examine it ! 

In the first place I am struck with the plain fact that the apostles all 
thought the presence of such a calamity a sure evidence of sin, either in 
the man or his parents. They considered the affliction to be a punish- 
ment for actual transgression ; which proves that they, as Hebrews, re- 
membered the physical promises and warnings of the covenant. But in 
this case they were mistaken, precisely as were the three friends of Job. 
The Patriarch of Uz was ill in body, not as a punishment, but in order to 
lead him to a depth of surrender of which he had not dreamed. Paul's 
thorn was purely precautionary, and intended to warn him against self- 
conceit. And Jesus said that this man was blind, not because of special 
offence, but that the works of God might be manifested in him. Now, 
when we remember that Job's boils and Paul's thorn came straight from 
the hand of Satan, and when we read that " for this purpose was the Son 
of God manifested, that he might destroy the works of the devil," it be- 
comes plain that the blind man's case was of precisely similar nature. 

What are the " works of God" in a mortal man? Are they not essen- 
tially to overthrow and cast out Satan and sin, with all the corruption and 
taint of evil ? But it may be said that the words mean that God's power 
might be shown. Indeed ! Is this all ? Why select a man ? Would not 
the " power" of God have been much more plainly manifested by some 
unquestionably miraculous work in nature. Suppose Christ had actually 
done what he told his disciples was possible to faith — plucked up a moun- 
tain and cast it headlong into the sea — would not the mere question of 
power have been settled much more positively than in healing the sick ? 
A thousand other wonders would have displayed power ; but Jesus " came 
to seek and save the lostP Who can dare say that this man would ever 
have been saved, if he had been born with eyes ? ; Had he not known 
such desperate privation, would he have ever believed in the Son of God 1 

Beyond question, he stands as an example of God's love and grace. 
Bound by Satan, not merely for eighteen years, but all his life ; deprived 

* I would say that this idea of the " thorn" was first given me by Dr. Cullis, five years ago. 
He simply stated it as his belief that Paul was cured. Since then the Lord has opened to my 
mind the beautiful unfoldings of the truth, and I give Him all the glory. 



HEALING OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 109 

of the precious boon of sight, and feeling his helplessness, as only the 
blind can ; he meets the Great Physican. The beautifully significant 
words, "as long as I am in the world, I am the light of the world," 
sounded in his ears ; the divine hand touched his eyes, and the command 
followed, " go, wash in the pool of Siloam." He went, he washed, he saw. 
A trial of faith followed, and then his spiritual eyes were also opened, 
and he exclaimed, in adoring confidence, " Lord, I believe." To the man 
this sickness was saving. To God it was glory. 

»A significant thought is here presented. Modern experience confirms 
the record in the fact, that a wondrous spiritual blessing invariably accom- 
panies the healing faith. In the long years of the faith work at Mane- 
dorf, at Bad Boll, under Dr. Cullis, and with many others, this has proved 

tthe universal rule. No one ever trusts God for anything without being 
blessed in spirit. And this is what we might expect, for is not faith laid 
down in Scripture as the express channel of communication between God 
and man ? 

We see, therefore, that, while the blindness was not a punishment for 

any special offence, it most certainly was no exception to the rule, that 

(^sickness emanates from the devil, and exists on account of sin. It saved 

tman from his sins, just as the thorn saved Paul from falling into pride, 
and the boils brought Job to the actual death of self. And thus, in each 
case, the works of God were manifested, in destroying the works of the 
devil. 

5. — Lazarus. 

In the eleventh chapter of John we have a very similar case. Christ 
loved Lazarus. Is it possible that God allows the works of the devil to 
afflict those whom He loves ? It is written, " Whom the Lord loveth he 
chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." Some one will 
say, " You have quoted a verse that weighs directly against you this time." 
Have I ? On the contrary the Lord gives me to see in it a mighty argu- 
ment in my favor. I ask, how does the Lord chasten his children? We 
know that it is by trial, tribulations, sorrows, and sickness if you please. 
But whence come these? Do not trials come from the opposition of sin- 
ners ? My patience is tried by somebody's impatience. My love is tested 
by another's ugliness and hatred. My faith is used in repelling the doubts 
which Satan interjects. Is it not perfectly plain that the things which 
give us by far the greater portion of our " chastening," unquestionably 
emanate from sin and Satan ? Why, how could we be "chastened " if we 
lived in an angelic community, where Satan's cloven foot could not tread? 
Will anybody try to explain ? And are we to conclude that sickness is 
to be arbitrarily separated from all the other ills that fiesh is heir to, and 
ascribed to the direct agency of " Him who hath loved us and bought us 
with His blood ?" We all believe that whatever the punishments of per- 



110 DIVINE HEALING. 

dition may be, they will be directly under the hand of the prince of dark- 
ness. Then how horrible it is to imagine that He, who is love, actually 
swings the scourges of hell in order to punish His own children. 

If you say you do not believe God does that, then our position is grant- 
ed at once. These things are all unquestionable evils. Now they do not 
send themselves. And if God does not send them, the devil must do so. 
The whole difficulty is cleared by simply regarding the double character 
of God. He is justice, but He also is love. " We have all sinned, and 
come short of the glory of God. " Therefore we are all under judicial sen- 
tence. This is our present condition. But love intervenes, and tempora- 
rily suspends execution. Meanwhile the "roaring lion " is raging around 
the "hedge"* which God" hath set about" us; and claiming us as 
his own. He is constantly striving to break through and slay us for- 
ever. But God withholds "him by His mighty hand. Now we are either 
outbreaking sinners, or, like Job, we do not " follow on to know the Lord " 
as He would have us. In this state of affairs Love asks the aid of wisdom 
and God, apparently listening to Satan's taunt of unfair protection, with- 
draws the hedge, and says, " Behold he is in thine hand, hut save his life. " 
At once the darts fall thick and fast. It may be the loss of family and of 
fortune, or it may be bitter personal pain. The arch-enemy has not learned 
backward since he displayed his ingenuity in the land of Hz. He has the 
" power of death, " and he uses it just as far as God will let him. If the 
" hedge " is not withdrawn from the body, he must be content with spoil- 
ing the goods, blowing down the house, and sending fire upon the sheep. 
Men were ready to ascribe Satan's work to God three thousand years 
ago, for Job's servants said, " The fire of God is fallen from heaven; " 
when the fact is it was the fire of hell, sent by Satan himself. I have not 
a shadow of a doubt that if God would only withdraw the " hedge " about 
the human race, the devil would kill every single soul upon earth in 
an hour. He would kill the saints out of pure malignity, and to pre- 
vent their serving God : and he would kill the sinners to make sure of 
their damnation. 

^--^An ancient tradition says that when man was created " in the image 
of God," all angels and created beings were called upon to do him 
honor, as the most remarkable work of God. But Eblis, or Satan, revolt- 
ed at the command, became a prey to envy and hatred, and rebelling 
against God, was cast down from his high estate, carrying his followers with 
him. Certain it is, that the old legend holds an important truth. It is 
the undying hatred, and venomous, sleepless animosity which Satan has 
ever displayed towards our race. 

Job's case was not on exception, but rather, almost, if not quite, the rule. 

In this view of the matter, how plain does the case of Lazarus become ! 

* This hedge is made of Angels, for " The Angel of the Lord encampeth round about them 
that fear him and delivereth them."— Ps. xxxiv. 7. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. Ill 

Jesus loved him; therefore he needed chastening. For some reason sick- 
ness was allowed. Satan had full swing, and the dart was dipped in 
deadly venom. Lazarus died, and hell rejoiced that a friend of the Naz- 
arene was slain. Satan has no foreknowledge, he is but a creature, and 
cannot read God's purpose in advance. But " this sickness was not unto 
death, but for the glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified 
thereby. " The word went forth, the works of the devil were destroyed, 
and Lazarus came back to life. Note especially, that Jesus said, " I am 
glad for your sakes that I was not there, to the intent ye may believe." 
w hat did this mean, but that, if He had been with the afflicted one, His 
presence would have necessarily banished sickness from one who loved 
Him, and whom He loved ; and mark, how great spiritual blessings came 
to them who stood by. " Then many of the Jews which came to Mary, 
and had seen the things which Jesus did, believed on him. " 

And finally we see again, permanently displayed in this chapter, the 
great truth that God maketh " the wrath of man (or devils) to praise 
him. " — Ps. lxxvi. 10. It is in this light that we can read of Pharaoh, of 
whom it is said that God especially raised him up. Kom. ix. 17. The 
reason of the raising up was that God might show forth His power, and 
declare His name through all the earth. But was not Pharaoh a fear- 
ful sinner, given over to the entire power of Satan ? And how did God 
show forth His power ? "Was it not by destroying the reign of Pharaoh 
over His people, and by drowning Pharaoh himself in the midst of the sea? 
The more we look into the Scriptures, the more we become convinced that 
the way God gets to Himself glory, is by saving and delivering His chil- 
dren from evil, and not merely by giving grace to remain under bondage 
to evil. Jesus Christ came " To save His people from their sins." 

The method by which God sends evil, and disease and trial, and tribula- 
tion, and distress, and peril, and sword, is outlined or suggested in the words 
of the Prophet, " Ephraim is joined to idols, let Mm alone. " — Hos. iv. 17. 
And we see the same thought in the dying words of Joseph, " But as for 
you, ye thought evil against me : but God meant it unto good, to bring to 
pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive. " — Gen. 1. 20. But most 
conclusive of all, is it not manifest that God saw fit to give us salvation 
through sin? In the proper sense, this is most tremendously true. It was 
sin that rejected Jesus of Narazeth ; it was sin that nailed Him to the 
cross ; it was sin and death and hell that rejoiced in the darkness of Cal- 
vary. (But God " meant it for good, to bring to pass as it is to-day, to save 
much people alive?! Of course if there had been no sin, Jesus would not 
have given Himself for us ; but sin there was, and beyond all controversy 
Christ could not have died, except by the works of the devil, the 
great representative of sin. But Jesus did not triumph by remaining 
under the power of sickness or sin. He conquered death and hell by 
destroying their power over Him, and living in health and strength until 



112 DIVINE HEALING. 

the time for His departure drew nigh. And he wants us to "walk, even 
as He walked."— Heb. ii. 14, 15. 

6. — Death Appointed to All. 

People often say, "Well if all this is true, nobody will ever die." 
There are several answers to this thoughtless and really ignorant remark. 
First we are told " that all men have not faith." Christ himself asked, 
" When the Son of Man cometh, shall He find faith on the earth ?" " O ye 
of little faith, wherefore did ye doubt ?" is the query that finds very wide 
application to-day. When it is apparent that a mere handful in the world 
can manage to trust God for healing, and clear from Scripture that only a 
few will be ready to meet him " at his appearing," it is at once seen that 
the objection is inconsequential. But the real thought goes deeper than 
words. The idea is, how will a man, who does exercise faith for healing, 
ever manage to die ? A moment's reflection makes this clear. The very 
essence of healing, as of holiness, through faith, is GooVs will. When Jesus 
so wonderfully cured my heart disease, it was done after I had resigned all 
to the will of God. I said, if God wants me to die, then I desire to die. If 
He wants me to live and suffer, I desire to do so. But if he wants me to 
recover and praise Him, I desire that. But I only desire the glory of 
God. In this attitude before God I was led to see His will in my recov- 
ery, and God alone is glorified thereby. But to-day how is it ? I am liv- 
ing for His glory, and am ready by His grace without a moment's notice 
to depart and be with Jesus. With Paul I can say " to be with Christ is 
far better. " (The man whose whole being is given to Jesus, will not seek to 
live, when God's time has come to carry him over the river.v The heart 
that is all the Lord's has its treasure in heaven, and waits,' almost im- 
patiently, for the Lord's appearing. Such a man is fully satisfied with 
life on earth, and like Paul, it is only by God's grace that he is content to 
stay there. His whole conversation is in heaven, from whence also he 
looks for the Lord Jesus. The very sweetest sound in all this wide uni- 
verse, to a heart full of the love of the Master, is the welcome call, 
" Behold the bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet him." Lord hasten 
the day when Jesus shall come and " we which are alive and remain be 
caught up to meet him in the air." "Amen ! even so come Lord Jesus." 
Of course I do not expect the world to comprehend this, for these things 
are spiritually discerned. But all God's children ought to understand. 

" It is appointed unto men once to die, and after that the judgment." 
— Heb. ix. 27. No one seeks to evade this Scripture. But we know that 
God will give deliverance in death itself. The story of Esther beautifully 
sets forth this deliverance. The laws of the Medes and Persians cannot 
alter, but the King authorizes the Jews to stand for their lives ; and by 
this permission, as well as for the fear of Mordecai, who stood before the 
King in the place of his people, the day of the edict brings victory, although 






SEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 113 

the law is not repealed. So Jesus stands for us, making intercession for 
us. The law of death cannot be changed: but even in that dark hour, 
He gives strength to cry, " grave, where is thy victory % O death, 
where is thy sting?" 

But there is no Scripture which even hints at the necessity of sickness 
coming upon God's children, who are walking in the light. If then it be 
finally asked, " Will you not have to be sick, in order to die," I answer, 
look about you. Is it true that all men die from illness ? Go back to the 
apostles. Were they ill ? Eleven died by violence, even as their Master ; 
and of John the beloved, who will dare to say that he wasted away under 
the hand of a " messenger of Satan" ? To-day, how many leave the world 
from violence, from accident, and from that sudden taking off without a 
day's suffering which is so common ? How many old persons simply fail ? 
The sands of life run out almost imperceptibly ; they are not sick ; but 
suddenly the golden cord is loosed, and the spirit departs to God who 
gave it. Surely this question is abundantly answered already. 

7. — For the Apostolic Age. 

We are told, with much confidence, that these miracles of healing were 
only for the Apostolic Age. This idea is of a piece with the theory that 
all the miracles of Christ were wrought simply to establish a belief in 
His divinity. But it is no new idea that Christ performed these miracles 
out of His overflowing love and goodness. Dr. K ast, in his " Introduction 
to the Gospel Kecords," advances the thought that Jesus did not have to 
exert Himself to work miracles, but rather was obliged to restrain the 
outflow of life from His loving heart. As we have already seen, the 
Master could well have established His superhuman character by astound- 
ing miracles in nature ; but His love for man, so to speak, compelled Him 
to heal and bless wherever He went. 

The only attempt at a real argument on Scriptural grounds ever yet 
made has as a necessity advanced the dogma that the promises of the 
law are now inoperative — that the old has passed away. On this point 
I quote from Stockmayer's " Sickness and the Gospel." 

" We often hear that these promises no longer hold good under the Ne w 
Covenant ; but the Lord said, * Think not that I am come to destroy the 
law or the prophets. I am not come to destroy, but to fulfill !' (Matt, 
v. 17). Only under the New Covenant God's claims upon us, and with 
them the conditions upon which we obtain the promises, are higher. Six 
times the Lord reiterates, ' Ye have heard that it was said by them of old 
time .... but I say unto you.' The distinctive character, then, of the 
New Covenant, is that now all is summed up in the person of Christ ; He 
is the end of the promises as well as of the law. To him who seeks first 
the Kingdom of God, and his righteousness, all other things shall be 
added ; the present things, or the things to come — the world, life, death — 



114 DIVINE HEALING. 

all belong unto those who are Christ's. (1 Cor. iii, 22-23). Now all that 
was promised to the faithful and obedient Israelite, besides health and 
fertility, may be summed up in the words, " daily bread." Do we not 
still ask God every day for our daily bread, and has not that been secured 
to us by the Lord himself (Mark viii. 14-21) ; not only for the body, but 
also for the soul (Jas. i. 5 ; 1 Cor. x. 13 ; compare Heb. xiii. 6). The 
promise of long life is also expressly renewed under the New Covenant " 
(Eph. vi. 3). 

It becomes the man who claims that the Old Covenant has passed away 
to show us how he manages to rescue the ten commandments from the 
wreck. And it also is reasonable to require him to show why he clings 
to the thousands of spiritual promises contained in the law and the 
prophets, while throwing away those of a physical import. Every sober 
thinker will admit in a moment that only the ceremonial or ritual was 
abolished when the great Antitype was offered on Calvary. The moral 
law, the spiritual law, the physical law remain intact. 

If I be asked to account for the fact of the general disappearance of 
the miraculous gifts from the church, nothing is easier. Picture the apos- 
tolic church " full of faith and the Holy Ghost." By degrees the church 
began to lose faith and grow spiritually weaker. Where and how would 
this appear ? Would it not be first in the failure of the momentary walk 
with God, so essential to the highest experience ? 

This momentary, personal trust failing, faith became more figurative 
and less literal; more general, and less particular, more theoretical, and 
less practical. But what more practical than the visible, tangible effects 
of faith upon the body ? Hence men while managing to stiS trust God 
for eternity, became unable to trust him for time, and thaumaturgy dis- 
appeared from the general view. (The mustard-seed-faith — the faitn that 
lays hold upon the impossible, that sees the great tree in the tiny seed, and 
reaches out in confidence in order to produce it — this kind was not found 
among the apostles themselves until after Pentecost. \ 

But we are not left to theory and analogy ; Scripture is not silent upon 
this subject. The last words of Jesus, according to St. Mark, were, " and 
these signs shall follow them that believe ; in my name shall they cast out 
devils ; they shall speak with new tongues ; they shall take up serpents ; 
and if they drink any deadly thing, it shall not hurt them ; they shall 
lay hands on the sick, and they shall recover. " — Mark xvi. 17, 18. Now, 
" them that believe " is a pretty broad promise. If men and women rise 
up to-day and say, " We believe, and these signs do follow us," who will 
undertake to disprove the fulfillment of the Lord's words ? Again, Paul, 
in 1 Cor. xii., speaks at length of the " gifts of the spirit." He says, 
" God hath set some in the church, first, apostles ; secondarily, prophets ; 
thirdly, teachers, after that miracles, then gifts of healings, helps, govern- 
ments, diversities of tongues." Now we all believe that " teachers" ex- 
ist in the church to-day ; but if any of these gifts were restricted to the 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 115 

Corinthians of the first century, we cannot consistently claim a single 
one. Moreover Paul enjoins the church to /k covet earnestly" these very 
gifts. Does that look like a special apostolic privilege ? 

But James settles the matter beyond any successful dispute. He 
writes "to the twelve tribes scattered abroad," that is surely general 
enough. And he gives a direction to the sick which, for clear cut specific 
detaU, is not surpassed by any promise in the Bible. " Is any sick among 
you (Is that sufficiently comprehensive ?) let him call for the elders of the 
church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name 
of the Lord ; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord 
shall raise him up, and if he have committed sins, they shall be forgiven 
him." — Jas. v. 14, 15. Now, if any man can point to a plainer and more 
positive promise in the Bible than this to the sick, let him produce it. 

I make the positive assertion that the following cannot be denied by 
any man living : 

1. There is no law in the Old Testament laid down with more dis- 
tinctness and positiveness than the law of physical health through the 
healing power of Jehovah Rophi. — Ex. xv. 26. 

2. There is no command with attached promise more absolute than the 
commission to the apostles. — Matt. x. 1, 7, 8. To the seventy disciples. 
— Luke x. 1-9. And to the entire church. — Mark xvi. IT, 18. 

3. There is no command and no promise more general in its applica- 
tion, nor more unqualified in its terms, than the direction to the sick. — 
Jas. v. 14, 15. 

4. There is not a sentence, a word, or even a hint, anywhere in Scrip- 
ture, that either of these were confined to any special age, or to be lim- 
ited by any special conditions. Each expresses its own conditions. 

I am fully persuaded that any Christian, who prayerfully considers 
these four points, will speedily be convinced that God's promises are not 
outlawed by time. Let us not forget the curse pronounced against him 
who shall add to, or take from, the words of Scripture. — Rev. xxii. 18, 19. 

8. — The Days of Miracles have Passed.* 

(This proverb was coined in hell, and bears the most unmistakable 
signs of the devil's imprints The Bible covers a period of four thousand 
years of actual history. During all that time God wrought special mira- 
cles. Looking forward into the future, the seer of Patmos pictures mira- 
cle on miracle, wonder upon wonder, until the mind can scarcely follow 
the letter, much less the sense. These are to come. We are now 
trembling on the very verge of the glorious appearing of our Lord and 
King — a miracle more stupendous in its effects than any that the world 
has known. ^Who says that the days of miracles are no more ? Who 

* "I do not know but that the chief advance of the Church is to be in that direction 
(Faith Cure). Marvellous things come to me day by day which make me think if the age 
of miracles is past, it is because the faith of miracles is past."— T. De Witt Talmage. 



116 DIVINE HEALING. 

will dare to say it ? Is it written ? Is there the least intimation in the 
Word ? Does not Paul say " Covet earnestly the best gifts," after nam- 
ing the gift of miracles fourth in order ? I could bring modern evidence 
of the weightiest kind, but we are dealing with God's Word alone. ** Is 
it not plain that a sleeping church has "made the Word of God of none 
effect through your tradition, which ye have delivered ? " — Mark vii. 13. 
Jesus Christ is " the same yesterday, to-day, and forever." — Heb. xiii. 8. 
But let us look at the objection critically and logically. In his won- 
derful and delightfully witty answer to Ingersoll, Kev. Father Lambert 
takes the ground that the only way to really reply to an infidel is to show 
his false assumptions, false logic, and false statements. Upon this prin- 
ciple, let us examine the saying, " The age of miracles has passed." 

1. It is a bold and positive statement. JSTow, an unalterable rule in all 
argument is, that a mere statement has not one atom of weight unless it 
be proven. The opposite party has only to say, " I deny it„" in order to 
force from the assumer the grounds for his assumption. Of course, this 
is not always necessary. For example, the blatant type of infidels make 
a practice of denying matters which have been abundantly established 
by the most complete proofs hundreds of times before they were born. 
In such cases the mere denial has no force. But, in the statement 
under discussion, this cannot be said. Who has ever proved, or under- 
taken to demonstrate, that the " age of miracles has passed ? " I do not 
wish to unnecessarily enlarge this article, and, therefore, simply assert 
that no such undertaking is on record. If it is, let it be produced. It 
therefore 'becomes necessary for the objector to bring forward evidence 
to establish his claim. Can he do it ? Let him remember that we are 
standing upon an established condition of things. Miracles have fre- 
quently occurred, as he himself admits, and we hold that they still con- 
tinue. 

2. We can now properly see that the attempt to prove " the age of 
miracles past " involves the proof of a negative proposition, viz., there 
have been no miracles for a number of centuries. Either this, or else 
the words mean that the decree of God has gone forth announcing the 
end of miracles. Which horn of the dilemma will you fall on ? The logi- 
cian well knows that a negative cannot be demonstrated ; but this must 
be attempted, unless the Divine decree can be produced. I therefore 
invite the quoters of this saying to search the Scriptures for the decree, 
or else go to work on the proof of a negative proposition. A negative 
statement^ however, may be established by personal evidence ; and I here 
make the assertion that from cover to cover, not one word can be found 
in God's word which hints at such a decree as the abolition of miracles 
or any other " gift of the Spirit." On the contrary, I read of this gift as in 

*Let the reader examine the evidence in " Supernatural gifts of the Spirit" Pastor 
Blumhardt, Dr. Cullis's "Faith Cures," etc., etc. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 117 

the Church, and read also the injunction to " covet earnestly " these good 
things which come from above. And m the early records of the Church 
I find abundance of testimony to the continuance of these gifts for several 
centuries. 

There is, therefore, only one way possible for our objector to attempt 
the substantiation of his " proverb," and that is by seriously examining 
the evidence in the case of each cure through faith ; and than to obtain 
the decision of his audience, acting as a jury, whether they deem it suffi- 
cient to establish the claim of the Divine interposition. This kind of 
judicial trial has been going or for the last ten years most actively 
(although going on all along church history), and a rapidly increasing 
number of devout Christians, and many worldly people, are becoming 
convinced that the " proverb " is a lie. 

3. " The age of miracles has passed." My next point is that the above 
words assume another thing which calls for the most rigid demonstration. 
The conception of a certain period specially set apart during which mira- 
cles should occur is forced wholesale on che mind. But wait a minute ! 
Who says anything of the kind % Does the Scripture ? Did God ever 
say so ? How are you going to prove this % Positively I will not assume 
anything, except it be based on Scripture. 

Dr. Marvin Yincent, in his criticism on Dr. Stanton's book, takes the 
ground that miracles always cluster about great epochs, and that in the 
interim they cease to occur ; but even he never ventured to say that God 
declared their " age " to have passed. Now we are perfectly ready to 
admit the general statement — miracles have seemed to cluster around 
great epochs ; but we deny emphatically that they were ever limited to 
such periods. "Was there any special " epoch " like the Exodus, or the 
time of Elijah, when the Lord miraculously saved Hagar and Ishmael ? 
"Was there any ' ' epoch " when the Lord healed Abimelech's household, 
or answered Isaac's prayer for his wife % "What particular " epoch " called 
forth the marvelous miracle of the " dial of Ahaz," or even the slaughter 
of Sennacherib's host ? And in any case Dr. Vincent's shaft turns square- 
ly against himself, for it must be evident that his " epochs " were times 
when no one on earth believed in present miracles except the few prophets 
and workers. When Moses faced the King of Egypt he stood alone, and 
the cry was, " Bring forth the magicians ; there is no miracle here." 
Truly if Dr. Yincent and his f ellow-unbeiievers are as numerous as they 
claim, this may be another " epoch " and he be found on the wrong side. 

But, again, will the doubter answer the inquiry t\ hether those who 
lived just before an " epoch" likely believed that miracles were comiug % 
Was there any remotely antecedent prophecy of the great wonders that 
" clustered around " the Exodus ? We know that there was none. Then 
we must admit that the succession of most startling miracles the world 
has ever known came on without any previous warning. The prophecy 
and the fulfillment were only separated by a few hours. Has God ever 



118 DIVINE HEALING. 

wrought miracles in the past without previous announcement ? "Was the 
great miracle of Jonah and the whale described in prophecy ? Yerily, 
these modern Christian doubters would brand a Jonah of to-day as the 
biggest liar of the ages, even if a thousand men saw him come "dripping 
from the water. Did they ever consider the total lack of corroborative 
testimony concerning that most wonderful event % Not one soul among 
men is reported as having seen Jonah swallowed by the whale, or cast 
upon the shore. It all rests upon Jonah's word and its place in the 
Scriptures. Of course the latter alone gives it acceptance. Would that 
as much weight were allowed to Scripture when we seek to prove a point not 
handed down by tradition. But when the Bible says, " Himselftook our 
infirmities and bare our sicknesses," the Church exclaims almost with one 
voice, "We can't believe that means what it says \ bring out Jonah and 
let's hear his account." We bring the witnesses, but of course those 
who turn from God's word, and seek to spy out human indorsement are 
unbelieving still, and pronounce the whole thing " a big fish Story." 

4. " The age of miracles has passed" These words are easily under- 
stood, but not so easily demonstrated. We have seen the negative propo- 
sition which is involved ; here is another weak point : Suppose " the age " 
has gone by, do our friends mean to assert that there can never be and 
will never be another such " age " ? Now hold still a minute, brethren, and 
think this over. Do not answer rashly. There are weighty reasons lor 
great care and consideration. But I propose to push this to the wall. 
What do you mean by " has passed " ? I will give you another pair of 
horns. Either the age of miracles, or rather an age of miracles, may and 
will occur again or there will never be such another. Which horn will 
you accept % If the latter, read the awful descriptions given by the pro- 
phets Daniel, Isaiah, and Jeremiah, and by Jesus Christ and his Apostles 
of the stupendous miracles that will precede and attend the period of the 
second advent. The Exodus, Elijah's life, and even the deluge itself, 
will sink into insignificance beside the overwhelming manifestations of 
Omnipotence that are to pour upon this earth and its inhabitants. Then 
you will admit that an age of miracles is coming. Evidently, therefore, 
you must fall back on the first horn and decide that one age has passed, 
while we are now living in the interval between " epochs." 

Well, suppose we are, are you going to prove that the interim is inde- 
finite in length ? Had you better not move slowly in your condemna- 
tion, lest the angel messengers of another day have perchance appeared to 
some who are more wakeful than yourself ? The Lord comes in miracles 
always, and the great condition is " watching." 

If you are not watching for the miraculous you are not watching for 
the Lord. 

In the total absence of certain limits set in the Scripture for this 
" age " in which we live, be careful to watch for a miraculous Saviour in 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 119 

ways that are not clearly mapped out in your limited brain, or you may 
be looking for a mountain to fall on you after a while. 

Finally, I hope that all my brethren in Christ will be enabled to look 
on these " lying spirits " who flock around us in the " traditions of men " 
in the light of God's truth and by the power of Jesus' name cast them 
out whenever we meet them. Jesus said " These signs shall follow them 
that believe." Do you my brother, believe these words \ If you arbi- 
trarily relegate them to a past " age " of course the " signs " will not fol- 
low you, but do not be so blind as to refuse the evidence of those who 
solemnly declare, " I believe," " I expect," and the signs do follow. Be not 
unbelieving when God's word is so plain. The only sign given to a " stiff- 
necked generation " is the " sign of the prophet Jonas." Jonah preached 
only three days in Nineveh, and foretold the most absurdly improbable 
catastrophe ever voiced among men. But the heathen city believed. 
Either this was the most terriblv arbitrary piece of distorted Calvinism — 
the city being absolutely forced to believe — or else those old heathens, 
living when "the age of miracles had passed" for centuries, had a faith 
in the miraculous that may well put to shame the Christianity of this year 
of grace, eighteen hundred and eighty-eight. 

A miraculous God made this world. By a succession of miracles He 
has made himself known through the ages. Miraculously He saved and 
cleansed my soul. Miraculously (in the sense that men utterly failed) 
He healed my body eight years ago. He is coming soon and coming in 
a storm of miracles. < I can understand a God who can work only 
through the natural causes known to man, and, with Daniel Webster, I find 
that a God I can understand is no God at all. I look for His miracu- 
lous footsteps and I find them ; and the promise is, " He that believeth 
shall never be confounded." Praise the Lord ! 

9. — The Use of Means. 

Has not God provided physicians, medicine, and means for healing the 
sick ? These questions need but little thought, though they may require 
some space. I am writing to Christians, as to those who believe God's 
Word. Hence, the great question is What does the Word say ? That is 
enough. But let us look at this question of means. 

We have already seen how exceedingly uncomplimentary the Bible is 
to physicians. The word medicine occurs only four times in Scripture. 
One is " Thou hast no healing medicines." — Jer. xxx. 13. Another, " In 
vain shalt thou use many medicines." — Jer. xlvi. 11. Another, where 
Ezekiel speaks in his vision of the tree of fife whose leaf should be "for 
medicine." — Ezek. xlvii. 12. And the fourth, "a merry heart doeth 
good (like) a medicine." — Pro v. xvii. 22. The margin has it " to a medi- 
cine." Of course these are largely figurative ; and I admit freely that 
these brief words plainly indicate that remedies were known and used at 



120 DIVINE HEALING. 

the time they were written. But it is certainly strange that not one 
single case is even mentioned in the Bible, where any man was healed of 
disease ; solely by the use of medicines. This is not surprising however 
to the soul that has learned to literally believe, " It is better to trust in 
the Lord than to put confidence in man." Certainly a wonderful change 
has taken place in our day when there are 190,000 physicians in the 
world, and medicines without number. /Scripture never advises us to trust 
in anybody or anything but God. There are several cases in the Bible 
where something of the nature of physical means seem to have been em- 
ployed. 

1. Timothy. Paul wrote, " Drink no longer water, but use a little 
wine for thy stomach's sake and thine often infirmities." The word is 
oinos, grape juice. Dr. Boardman presents the argument that this was 
no more advising medicine, than would be the counsel to eat rare beef- 
steak, since wine was regarded as a provision for nourishment.* This is 
undoubtedly true of the sweet unfermented wines, which, like the famous 
Lesbian variety, were according to Pliny, more highly esteemed than any 
other, except by those who drank to get drunk. 

Paul reminds Timothy twice of the "gift which he had received.f 
From all analogy we must conclude that Timothy, in common with the 
seventy, the deacons, and " them that believed," healed the sick, while he 
preached the gospel ; for this was the distinct commission. But if he was 
seriously and permanently ill, would not the proverb which Jesus quoted, 
have been flung in his teeth, " Physician heal thyself ? " Again Paul 
says, " Thou, therefore, my son, be strong in the grace that is in Christ 
Jesus." — 2 Tim. ii. 1. And he charged him to "Preach the word ; be 
instant in season, out of season," etc. Surely the apostle did not count on 
any interference from sickness. If we can imagine Paul and Peter, after 
their day's work in preaching and healing, soaking their feet in mustard 
and hot water, and swallowing black draughts or liver pills, we can then 
easily conceive of Timothy's taking medicine in any proper sense of the 
word. Why didn't Paul send him a " handkerchief " or an " apron," if he 
was sick and needed healing? See Acts xix. 11, 12. This case gives no 
more argument against faith-healing, than it does against total abstinence. 

2. Hezekiah. The good king was " sick unto death." — 2 Kings, 20. 
Isaiah came and told him he must die. But Hezekiah wept and prayed, 
and before Isaiah had crossed the court yard, the word of the Lord came 
to return, and promise the King fifteen years of life, in spite of the 
previous positive announcement — " Thou shalt die."J " And Isaiah said, 

[* Great Physicians, p. 107. 

f 1 Tim. iv. 14. 2 Tim. i. 6. 

% Rev. Samuel Wakefield, Theology, p. 238, says of this : " When God said to the Jewish 
King, 'Thou shalt die and not live!' it was only the announcement of what must have been 
tfce inevitable consequence of this sickness had it not been divinely prevented. But as JIe;s§- 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 121 

take a lump of figs. And they took and laid it on the boil, and he recov- 
ered" — y S . 7. "Without any discussion whatever, as to the possible medi- 
cinal properties of figs, when used as a " plaster," I note the following 
telling points. In vs. 5. God said, " I have heard thy prayer. / will 
heal theeP Then the Lord gave a most miraculous sign to confirm faith 
in the promise that the third day the King should go up to the house of 
the Lord. The shadow went backward on the dial of Ahaz ten degrees. 
Hezekiah prayed. God answered. God said He would do the healing, 
and add fifteen years of life. The fig medicine (?) would not have been 
used, but for the mandate of the prophet. Hezekiah evidently put no 
confidence in the plaster, but asked for a miraculous sign from God. God 
gave this also, and raised him up according to the promise. I consider it 
a perfectly fair suggestion to physicians, who really believe that the figs 
cured Hezekiah, that they apply similar plasters to every fatal carbuncle 
they encounter. I do not dream of sneering at any man's profession, or 
any man's faith, in making this suggestion; but if figs cured carbuncles 
in the days of Isaiah, they will do the same to-day. But let us remember 
that Hezekiah was cured in three days. 

3. The Blind Man. " Jesus spat on the ground and made clay of 
the spittle and anointed his eyes." Here again was a semblance of means. 
But does any one seriously suppose that the clay had any part whatever 
in restoring sight to man who was "born blind?" Spittle and earth are 
plenty and cheap. Have they ever healed anybody else ? If we look 
rightly, we see nere but another example of those tests of humility and 
of obedience, which God so often sees fit to send. The common dirt, and 
the almost repulsive saliva, sharply teach the great lesson that he who 
would be healed by God, must be content to accept God's way, no matter 
how humiliating that way may seem to the natural heart. Cassar's famous 
letter is far outdone in the simple, humble, obedient testimony, " I went, 
I washed, I saw." This case is very similar to that of the great Syrian 
General. 

4. Naaman. "We all know the story of his healing. How he heard 
of the "Prophet in Israel," went to the King, was sent to Elisha, terribly 
offended at the humiliating treatment he received, and wrathfully refused 
to bathe in Jordan. He expected Elisha to come out and make passes 
"up and down" (Heb.) over the places, in the manner of the mesmerizing sor- 
cerers of Assyria. Did the prophet think him a fool ? Were not Abana 
and Pharphar better than Jordan? Now anyone can see that the water of 
Jordan had no possible virtue as a medicine; that Naaman thought he 

kiah did not believe the sentence to be unconditional, he ' prayed unto the Lord,' and ' wept 
sore,' and God regarded the supplication, removed his disease, and added to his days ' fifteen 
years.' So also in the case of the Ninevites the threatening was conditional, as the event 
clearly proves; consequently, when they 'turned from their evil way' they escaped the threat- 
ened judgment," 



122 DIVINE HEALING. 

knew better than Elisha what should be done; that he was haughty, proud 
and unbelieving. But to apply the story to ourselves to-day, is not so 
easy for the natural heart. Yet no better illustration can be found. 

I boldly assert that the real trouble with those Christians who refuse to 
accept faith-healing, is that the characteristics of the old general of Syria 
are literally reproduced in them. 1. They think they are wiser than the 
Word of God. v 2. They are too proud to give up every trace of self, and 
obey without a 'question. 3. Most important of all, they will not believe. 
As soon as Naaman made up his mind to give up his pride and obey, he 
was healed. The same road is open to-day. Note especially that spiritual 
blessings attended the bodily healing, and Naaman became a worshipper 
of the true God. Nor should we forget that Jesus himself referred to this 
very case and said, in so many words, that the only reason why other 
lepers were not healed was because of their unbelief. Is this the reason 
why so many languish to-day ? 

The case of Paul and Silas, when they had their stripes washed by the 
jailer of Philippi (Acts xvi. 33), and that of Paul when he was stoned and 
left for dead at Lystra (Acts xiv. 21, 22), show that in cases of accident or 
other mechanical, physical injury, God may allow a gradual, natural 
recovery, or send a quick supernatural healing, as He sees fit. But we are 
not warranted in expecting the latter unconditionally. Hence hygienic, and 
even surgical appliances should be used unless there is the most positive 
leading of the Spirit to the contrary. \ 

I believe this covers every case of healing in the Bible where anything 
approaching the nature of medicine was used, except those whom the dis- 
ciples "anointed with oil." — Mark vi. 13. This brings us fairly to the 
question. 

5. "Was Oil in any sense a Medicine ? Notwithstanding the opinion of 
the learned Dr. Adam Clarke, it is with difficulty that I can seriously de- 
bate this point. We can easily find refuge aginst Dr. Clarke in the 
decided stand taken by John Wesley in opposition to the great 
commentator on this point. In the matter of authority, I will simply 
place Wesley against Clarke. The latter thought the oil was used as a 
medicine; the former utterly rejected the idea.* 

But no authority to-day stands higher than the late Dean Alf ord, whose 
conclusive comments on the passage in Jamesf settles forever the foolish 
notion that the oil had any medicinal character. This argument is about 
as marked by ignorance and absurdity as that of an editor who recently 
wrote that the word "sick" in Jas. v. 15 (Greek hamno) never means 
bodily sickness at all, but merely " weariness," etc., concerning which re- 
markable exegesis Dr. Daniel Steele, the learned Greek scholar and teacher, 

* For the benefit of the curious, and particularly of the inquiring Methodist, read the extracts 
from Wesley's Journal in the note on page 174 

f See Introduction, p. 17. 



SEALING OF BODILY DLSEASE. 123 

wrote to me, "the author of this is either an ignoramus in Greek or 
an intentional deceiver." Unfortunately such ignoramuses often come to 
the front in theology. 

But we do not have to ask either of these men. Our eyes are open ; 
we can read for ourselves. What does God say % We find eight or nine 
Hebrew, and half a dozen Greek words translated by anoint, anointed, 
anointing. This word, in its three English forms, occurs 137 times in 
Scripture. It is sufficient to note that all but four or five of these clearly 
and directly refer to the sacred or ritualistic anointing, or consecrating to 
God in some manner. A large number refer to the "anointing oil" of 
the Mosaic law. Many others speak of the anointing of kings, and others 
of prophets. Yet it is noticeable that several of these words mean 
literally, to smear or to rub on. The particular word which is used in James 
v. 14, is precisely the same as in Mark vi. 13. It is aleipho, and means 
distinctly, to anoint. Three other Greek words, engchrio, chrio, and 
epiehrio, have more the sense of to rub on. Yet the latter are used in 
such texts as " God anointed (chrio) Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy 
Ghost and with power." — Acts x. 38. See also 1 John ii. 27. The word 
chrisma is here used. /It is perfectly plain, therefore, that there is not 
the faintest Scriptural ground for making even the conjecture that the 
oil was used for its supposed medical properties. , On the contrary the 
evidence against such an idea is absolutely unbroken, and stands 137 to 1. 
We do know that every one or everything that was specially set apart 
or consecrated to the Lord's service was anointed with oil. Was this to 
cure the disease of sin ? And when we find Jesus himself commanding 
his disciples to preach the gospel, for the saving of souls by faith alone, 
and to heal the sick by the laying on of hands and anointing with oil, 
and find that an inspired apostle connects this healing with the forgive- 
ness of sin, what can we believe or suppose as to the use of the oil ? 
Besides James most distinctly says, " The Lord shall raise him up." In 
short, there is not the faintest hint in Scripture that oil was ever con- 
sidered in any other light than the symbol of consecration. For the 
benefit of those who ask for human authority we will now turn to 
history. 

I lately read an article by a minister of the gospel in which it was 
stated that oil was about the only medicine the physicians used in the 
time of Christ, or at least that it was exceedingly prominent. Such a 
statement can only proceed from inexcusable ignorance in the writer. 

From a book called " Gleanings," by C. C. Bombaugh, M. D., under 
the head " Nothing 'New under the Sun," is taken the following : 

" Harvey discovered the circulation of the blood in 1619 ; but from a 

Lpassage in Longinus (chapter xxii), which the "Father of Critics" 

obtained from the " Timaeus " of Plato, we learn that this fact was known 

at least two thousand years before ; or in the fourth century before Christ. 

Dr. Bombaugh further shows, that the use of anaesthetics to deaden pain. 



124: DIVINE EEALim* 

in surgical operations was well known in the time of Christ. Dr. Morton, 
of Boston, in 1846, first practically adopted the vapor of sulphuric ether 
in surgery, while Dr. Simpson of Edinburgh, in 1847, first applied chloro- 
form ; but, he adds, the idea of thus deadening the pain and torture 
under the knife, etc., by the use of the juices of poppy, henbane, mandra- 
gora, and other narcotic preparations, disappears in the darkness of a 
remote antiquity. Herodotus, in the fifth century B. C, describes the 
Scythians as using the vapor of hemp-seed to produce stupefaction. 
From the account of our blessed Lord's crucifixion we know that "vinegar 
mingled with gall " — (Matt, xxvii. 34), was one, at least, of the mixtures 
administered to alleviate the horrors of such a death. 

/Pliny, the naturalist, Dioscorides, a Greek physician of Cilicia, Apule- 
ius of Madaura, all of whom lived in the first and second centuries oi our 
era, describe the use of mandragora, rocket, and a stone called Memphitis, 
which, when powdered and mixed with vinegar, was applied to those 
about to have a " member mutilated, burned, or sawed." 

/The doctor also cites the Chinese, saying, " they understood, ages 
before they were introduced into Christendom, the use of substances con- 
taining iodine for the cure of goitre, and employed spurred rye (ergot) to 
shorten dangerously prolonged labor in difficult accouchements." 

" They used moxa, and gave a preparation of hemp, when incisions 
or amputations were necessary, and he quotes from one of their famous 
medical works, in the library at Paris, the following sentence : t-Aiter a 
certain number of days, the patient recovered, without having experienced 
the slightest pain during the operation/ " ' 

Rev. Arthur Sloan, in an able article on " Medical Knowledge in 
Ancient Times," says : 

" I will now mention a fact that came under my own observation. 
In the winter of 1870, I met a physician, in the city of New York, who 
said, ' To show you that there is " no new thing under the sun," as 
Solomon says, I will give you a bit of my experience.' He then related 
how he had been for a long time perfecting a surgical instrument of com- 
plicated structure, and when just upon the point of patenting it, at 
W ashington, he was going down town one day, and being attracted by 
some photographs in a store window, he turned aside to look at them. 
To his complete astonishment he saw his own instrument part for part, 
pictured among these ' antiquities,' dug out of Herculaneum and 
, Pompeii. It will be remembered that these cities were destroyed in the 
first century after Christ. Eighteen centuries ago, therefore, the practice 
of surgery had reached a point where as complicated an instrument was 
required as in the same practice in 1870. When we consider the length 
of time, experience and knowledge needed to produce such an instrument 
we can see to what a state of perfection surgery had been brought at 
that time. This is a fact of great importance in such an inquiry as the 
present." 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 125 

In this connection I quote Ezekiel xxx. 21 : "I have broken the arm 
of Pharaoh king of Egypt ; and lo, it shall not be bound up to be healed, 
to put a roller to bind it, to make it strong to hold the sword." The 
word translated "roller" means more literally bandage; and we at once 
see the figure to be an exact description of the rolls of linen used as 
bandages for a broken limb. Truly in the light of all these facts, and those 
set forth in the Introduction on this point, the man who has foolishly 
striven to show that " oil" in James means a " medicine," will appear to 
the well informed if not as an " intentional deceiver," at best as an 
" ignoramus " in history. A rather caustic writer has the following on 
this point : 

" Holiness literature seems to some extent to be tainted with rational- 
ism. The Free Methodist is so far gone in, materialism that it construes 
the anointing with oil in the name of the Lord, James v. 14, to be a 
medical prescription. It discusses the virtue of oil as a medicine and 
concludes that the ' Elders' were called in to give the patient an oil 
bath ! " 

" Dr. McDonald, the editor of the Christian Witness, sustains the 
same puerile opinion. He says, ' The remedy James prescribed was oil 
— a very common prescription among the Jews.' He shows how it was 
taken, 'inwardly and outwardly,' and says, 'with a similar intention, 
no doubt, its use was enjoined by St. James ! ' There is nothing remark- 
able about all this but its extreme stupidity. These brethren ought to 
issue a treatise on all-healing oil. They consider it a cure-all, a grand 
catholicon, a universal restorative, exterminating every disease, for does 
not St. James say ' is any sick among you ? ' Is o matter what the dis- 
order is, call in the ' elders ' and let them smear the invalid with oil from 
head to foot, and the malady, whether acute or chronic, cutaneous or intes- 
tine, will at once disappear ! The effect is complete and instantaneous ! 
They should state how their wonderful panacea should be applied and how 
long a patient must remain in an oil-pack. They might explain why this 
all-healing specific is never applied but once, and why this medicine must 
.^never be administered by a nurse, or drug-doctor, but by the ' elders.' 
^Beloved, you had better both go into the oil business." 

But let us look at it in the light of common sense. Suppose it true 
that the oil was to be well rubbed on as an actual remedy. Are we not 
confronted with the absurdity that an inspired Apostle and Jesus himself 
ordered a medicine to be universally used, which in many cases would 
prove only an aggravation ? Imagine rubbing oil upon an open sore or an 
inflamed eye ! Of what use to rub oil upon the skin in order to cure the 
vast array of deep-seated internal disorders which cannot be possibly 
reached in that way? And why should the Apostle ignore the hundreds 
of remedies known and used all around him ? Why did he not say — use 
appropriate medicines, then lay on hands and pray, and the Lord shall 
raise him up ? These questions answer themselves. 



126 DIVINE HEALING, 

The laying on of hands was also eminently ritualistic and symbolical. 
Beyond doubt, physical manipulation . and rubbing were used as reme- 
dies, but the evidence is wholly against any such sense in the case of 
healing. Why did the Apostles " lay hands " on the disciples at Samaria? 
Acts viii. 17, and at Ephesus ? Acts xix. 6. See also Acts vi. 6, ix. IT, 
xiii. 3; 1 Tim. iv. 14, v. 22; 2 Tim. i. 6. The whole tenor of Scripture 
establishes beyond controversy that this was a sacred rite, intended to 
convey the idea of a distinct impartation from a divine source. 

But has not God allowed medicines to be discovered for a good pur- 
pose ? Undoubtedly. Medicines and physicians are the signs of God's 
love. Foreseeing that " all men have not faith," and that only a small 
percentage of the sick will exercise trust in Him, He has provided these 
means in nature for stemming the tide of disease, and thereby alleviating 
sufferings, while also extending the day of probation to millions, and he 
has allowed man in his restless effort to find an alleviation of " the curse 
of the law " to discover them. Notwithstanding God's first plan is an 
inward impartation of divine life, rather than an outward improvement 
of fallen humanity. Man seeks for means by which to restore himself. 
Hence medicines. Medicine for the body is much like " works " for che 
soul. Cain's descendants early began the long line of discoveries, inven- 
tions and sciences, which fill the world to-day with their praises*— the 
great army of doctors who in all ages are striving to reconstruct fallen 
man by natural means. 

But is it not true that " faith without works is dead ? " And ought I 
not try to help myself, f while at the same time trusting in God as the 
real fountain of power ? /I reply that " Providence is on the side cf the 
heaviest artillery " may do for a Napoleon, but not for a Christian ; and 
when the latter quotes " God helps those who help themselves " in matters 
of faith, he is treading dangerously near to the great Frenchman's maxim. 

" Faith without works is dead." True. But the kind of works God 
calls for is best expressed in this — acting precisely as if you believed every 
word of God f s promise. It is a great deal more wokk to go to Jordan with- 
out a question, than to essay " some great thing P 

But do you not believe in any means at all, under any circumstances? 

* Gen. iv. 21, 22. 

f Let modern physicians speak as to the reliability of their " means." 

Dr. Valentine Mott — " Our remedies are unreliable." 

Dr. Rush, of Philadelphia — "We have multiplied disease." 

Dr. Frank — "Thousands are slaughtered in the sick room." 

Sir Astley Cooper, M. D. — " The science of medicine is founded on conjectures, improved 
by murder." 

Dr. Evans, Edinburgh, Scotland— " The medical practice of the present day is neither 
philosophical nor common sense." 

In Wood's great work on Therapeutics, he says of the fifty remedies prescribed for 
dysentery—" We are ignorant as to whether the patient recovers by their aid, without them, 
or in spite of them." 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 127 

Yes. At all times, and under all circumstances, go to the best and most 
successful physician ever known — Jesus of Nazareth, and use the Script- 
ural means for healing the sick. 

1. Laying on of Hands. 

2. Anointing with Oil. 

3. Prayer of Faith. 

In the Laying on the Hand of power, I see suggested the Almighty 
Father, the fountain and source of life. In the Anointing I find set forth 
the blessed influences of the Holy Spirit, drawing, regenerating, cleans- 
ing and applying all the benefits of grace to soul and body. And in the 
Peayer of Faith, I discover the living Word, the glorious Son of God, 
my Lord and Master Jesus Christ, through whose name, by faith in his 
name, we are enabled to stand before the world and before God as monu- 
ments of Eedeeming Love. Praise the Lord ! 

10. — Who are the Elders. 

This question often takes the form of an objection. Some one says, 
Why cannot I pray for myself ? You can ; and if God lays it on your 
heart, do so, by all means. Cases have greatly multiplied, in the last few 
years, where different people have been led to trust God for physical 
healing, and have been raised up through faith. Some of these have been 
circulated far and wide by the secular press. But there can be no doubt 
that these are exceptions, so to speak. The great mass of cures have 
come in the literal obedience of the plain command, " Is any sick . . . 
let him call," etc. 

Several years ago, I talked long and earnestly on this subject with a 

gentleman, who was afflicted with chronic disease. He believed in my 

Lealing, accepted the fact of God's power working in these matters, and 

desired to throw himself on the promises. But he seemed doubtful on 

this point of the " Elders." He said, " Why can't I call for any of the 

food brethren here to pray with me ? There is Brother C and Brother 
• , and others ; why not call on them ? They have faith in God, and are 

about the best men I know." I replied, " My dear friend, they have not 
the special kind of faith required, and they do not feel at all called to 

Eray in this way. Dr. Cullis does feel called, and the Lord has honored 
is prayers." I strongly advised him to go on to Boston and claim the 
promise in humble obedience. He seemed much impressed, and I hoped 
he would go. But he lingered and hesitated. Three or four years passed 
away in this manner ; and then, in a moment, he was summoned away 
from earth. I do not pretend to assert that he died because he would not 
go to Boston, but I do certainly know that he was decidedly averse to 
straightforward, simple obedience to the command, " Let them call for 
the elders of the church," etc. 



128 DIVINE HEALING. 

There can be no reasonable doubt that "the elders " are those whom 
God has called to this special work. 'And just as a man should not enter 
the ministry without a distinct call from God, so no one should undertake 
to act as an " elder " in this matter of healing, unless he is perfectly sure 
that the Lord has called him to the work. At the same time I most 
emphatically believe in any one who has faith, acting in emergencies. 
For a man to lay on hands and anoint with oil in the name of the Lord, 
without faith, would be a mockery. Is then every minister of the gospel 
called upon to pray with the sick % Yes, if he has faith ; faith for that 
special work. He has no business to preach the gospel if he has not posi- 
tive faith for results, seen or unseen. And he has no right to pray with 
the sick, without expectant faith. ■ Nor has any one. x As a matter of plain 
fact, there are hundreds of men and women in Christendom to-day, 
whose prayers, according to James v. 14, have been repeatedly answered 
in the healing of all manner of diseases. I am personally acquainted 
with a large number of these earnest servants of God, and know of the 
results of their work. 

11. — Gifts of Healing. 

But do you believe that anybody has such a thing as a special gift of 
healing in these days ? Most certainly I do. This point was lately held 
up to ridicule by a prominent clergyman, in a well-known religious paper. 
I wrote him a letter privately, and gave him some real information con- 
cerning well-attested facts. He responded with a short letter, which I 
here transcribe, as the best possible presentation of the real reasons for 
the rejection of faith healing by so many good Christian people. I do 
not feel that I am violating any confidence in so doing, as the writer had 
already publicly attacked tne doctrine, in very similar language. He 
says : 

" Oct. 1883. 
." My Dear Brother : — 

" Thanks for your frank and friendly letter. All sane Christians believe that God hears 
prayer and, when it pleases Him, can and does restore the sick to health. What I utterly 
disbelieve is that He confers this miraculous gift of healing on the ' Brother P — s ' and other 
special wonder-workers at Boston, Old Orchard, and elsewhere. The best proof that Brother 
P. really did nothing for Mrs. M. is that he, if he really could do all she asserts, he would 
have become the most celebrated and sought-after of men ; whereas, he only remains an ob- 
scure ' Evangelist.' The woman's idea of sending for ' Bro. P.' in order to ' do God's way/ 
is ridiculous. If he (or any man) can by ' anointing' and prayer, raise the sick — then God 
has given him special Apostolic powers, and it is absurd to suppose that ' Bro. P. ' would fail 
to exercise that miracle-working power upon thousands. The trouble is that your theory 
builds an immense presumption on a few sporadic cases. Bro. Gordon is an admirable man, 
but his devout volume* fails to convince me, or nine-tenths of the intelligent ministers of the 
land. The special gifts of those special servants of God, the Apostles, ceased with them. 
The legitimate function of believing, submissive prayer, is almost caricatured in such cases 
as the preposterous little pamphlet you sent me. If Mrs. M. can do what she describes, why 

* Ministry of Healing. Dr. A. J. Gordon of Boston. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 129 

does she not do it ojtener, and in cases of eminent and specially valuable lives ? The im- 
mense number of failures go for nothing with good people of your ' school/ 
" In haste and with cordial respect, 

" Yours in Christ Jesus, 

Theodore Cutler." 

It answers itself, to a devout and truly humble Christian. May the 
dear Jesus mercifully spare this servant the " woe to the shepherds of 
Israel," who teach not the truth ! But let us look at his letter. He spe- 
cially disbelieves in "gifts." And the "proof" is that, if Bro. P. could 
do what is claimed, he would be famous, " sought-after," and not an " ob- 
scure ' evangelist.' " These gifts perished " with the Apostles." Our 
brother should read and ponder upon 1 Cor. xii. He will find that all 
these " gifts " were broadcast " in the church." He should read history. 
He will find that they were common in the church for four centuries after 
Christ. As to the point of fame, etc., he should remember that " not 
many mighty men" are called, but that God hath used the weak things 
of the world to put to nought the great. He should remember that while 
Jesus and the Apostles were "sought-after," it was only by the "com- 
mon people," and by the sick who " had need of healing." '£N"ine-tenths 
of the intelligent ministers " of the day would not have anything to do 
with Christ, or any of His Apostles. > "Have any of the rulers or of the 
Pharisees believed on him ? " — Jno. vii. 48. If this dear brother would 
take a pilgrimage to Boston he would find Dr. Cullis besieged by the sick 
for two hours, five days in the week. In Connecticut he would find a 
humble colored woman " sought-after " continually.* Crossing the ocean, 
he would find dear old Dr. Boardman's wife and Mrs. Baxter with a full 
household of sick, seeking healing. At Bad Boll, near Stuttgardt, he 
would find Pastor Blumhardt's son, at the head of a vast establishment, 
which, for more than thirty years, has been crowded with guests from all 
portions of the world, all looking for the miraculous healing power of 
God. And at Manedorf in Switzerland he would see Samuel Zeller, in 
charge of the great faith work, established by the simple-hearted Doro- 
thea Trudel. Perhaps the "obscure evangelists" are more "sought- 
after" than our brother imagines. 

Again he asserts that for the lady to send for Bro. P. " in order 
to do God's way is ridiculous." To this awful statement I reply : " It 
is written, is any sick among you, let him call for the elders of the 
church, and let them pray over him, anointing him with oil in the name 
of the Lord." 

" It is absurd to suppose that ' Bro. P.' would fail to exercise that 
miracle-working power upon thousands." It seems to me I read in the 
Book of the fact that the prophet Elisha, gifted with a " double portion " 
of his master's spirit, only healed one leper out of the " many that were 

* She has now departed to be with the Lord. 



■•:..... J 



130 DIVINE HEALING. 

in "Israel." And of many widows, who, when the heavens were shnt up, 
failed to receive a visit from the " man of God." Where shall Bro. P. 
find the "thousands" upon whom to exercise his " miracle-working 
power " ? If the thousands are all as skeptical as our brother, it is plain 
that Bro. P. would not and could not be sent. And just here we see 
another special failure to apprehend the word " sent." Does our brother 
suppose that Paul or Peter healed the sick, right and left, without any 
guidance at all from God ? Does he suppose that anybody to-day claims 
a power as his own, that is, as his own possession or property, to be used 
according to his discretion ? The very nature of the promise used limits 
the exercise to those who " call for the elders." And does he suppose 
that any very large percentage of the sick are willing to do anything of 
the kind ? If he does, a little practical inquiry will soon undeceive him. 
If our brother should be taken sick, could any "elder" cure him? 
"Would he " callj" 

"Your theory builds an immense presumption on a few sporadic 
cases." My theory (I can say "my," even as Paul said "my gospel," for 
it is mine ; my Jesus gave it to me) does not build on any case at all. It 
did, at first, because faith was very weak. But long ago I built not on 
the sand of human testimony, but on the Rock. The only foundation I 
lay for the doctrine and practice of faith-healing is, " It is written" and 
I joyfully affirm, that if every case of cure, with which I am familiar, 
were to be wiped out of existence, I would cry out, Lord, I believe Thy 
word. That grandly intelligent man, Thomas Erskine, found it possible 
to do this, without any human evidence.* " Blessed are they who have 
not seen and yet have believed." — Jno. xx. 29. 

"Why does she not do it oftener, and in cases of eminent and spe- 
cially valuable lives ? " This has already been partly answered. :As to 
the "valuable" and "eminent" lives ; I ask, who says they are eminent 
and valuable? God, or man? If they are valuable enough to God to 
have them raised up, depend upon it, it will be done. The ten spies 
were eminent men in Israel, and the entire nation considered them valu- 
able men, but God thought only Caleb and Joshua, the most unpopular 
men out of three millions, were " valuable " enough to live. The ten 
died because they "brought up a slander on the land," which God had 
told them to possess^ .-. 

" The immense number of failures go for nothing with good people 
of your ' school.' " Well, praise the Lord ! they should count for nothing. 
We should not be discouraged if we prayed with a thousand and every 
one died. I am not dodging in the least. I have already shown that 
the foundation of the doctrine is God's Word, and not results. He has 
said, "My word shall not return unto me void." That is enough for me. 
Our brother has preached more sermons from which he has seen no posi- 

*See "The Brazen Serpent." 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 131 

tive results, than those which have been visibly instrumental in healing 
soulsTYDo these "failures go for nothing" with him? "Was the trouble 
with God, or with him, or with the sinners ? Did he ever labor with a 
number of inquirers, and see some emerge into the light, while many 
others slid back into darkness? Yet did these "failures" cause him to 
doubt the doctrine of soul-healing? 

The dear Lord knows that there is in my heart only the kindest and 
most loving feelings toward this brother, and toward all Christians, in 
this matter. But I mean to be as severe with error as I can find words, 
means and grace. It is the error solely, and not the man that, by the 
grace of God, I strive to strip of its plausible dress, and reveal in all its 
naked hideousness and deformity. 

Here I must make another personal confession. After my own heal- 
ing and sanctification, the thought of praying with others occasionally 
presented itself to me. I left it with the Lord and bided His time. The 
day came when my own darling wife lay in puerperal fever, with a pulse 
running to one hundred and eighty in a minute. I ventured to lay hands 
on her in the name of the Lord, and to claim the promise in Mark xvi. 18. 
^Jn an hour the fever had gone, the pulse was nearly normal, and the skin 
moist. $ Shall not Jesus have the praise ? After this, for some time, I had 
no call ; but the matter lay upon my heart. Once I was asked to pray 
with a lady, and felt that I dared not refuse. God honored faith this 
time, also. At length I felt a constant pressure or call upon the subject, 
and prayed long and earnestly for light and guidance. Walking alone 
one day in the open country, the burden of my heart was, Lord, use me, 
if thou canst, in this work. I have been healed, and the words keep 
ringing in my ears, " Freely ye have received, freely give." Lord send 
me. But then the words rose in my heart, as they had often done be- 
fore, and I exclaimed aloud, " I am a man of unclean lips, and in the 
midst of a people of unclean lips ; how can I be fit for such a work ? " 
Suddenly I stopped short, and said aloud, " See here ; the blood of Jesus 
Christ cleanseth from all sin ; now, do you believe it, or don't you be- 
lieve it ? Which ? " For a moment I hesitated, and then, raising my 
eyes to heaven, I replied, " Lord, I believe ; Thou knowest that I do." 
" Then what are you talking about your unclean lips for ? " How sharp 
and clear the question came ! The heart works quickly under such press- 
ure, and I answered steadily, " Master, I will never do so again. I do 
not understand it. It is a complete mystery how such a soul as mine can 
be fit for Thy service, but I will take Thy word for it, and believe it. 
Yes, I will even believe that my heart and my body are actually fit to be 
a temple of the Holy Ghost, and to receive the ' gifts ' of the Spirit. 
Made so by the blood that cleanseth ; how, I cannot comprehend, but fit 
for Thy service. f Here I am Lord, send me." 

In a few days I received a note from a lady, unknown to me, asking 
me to call on her for prayer for healing. I prayed earnestly that if the 



132 DIVINE HEAIUSTG. 

Lord had really given me what He means by "gifts of healing," that I 
might have a certain specific sign while praying over this case. And in 
the event of this sign being given I solemnly promised never to doubt 
that God had really bestowed these " gifts " upon me. Suffice it to say 
that the sign asked for was distinctly given. From that day to this I 
have never entertained a doubt of God's " gifts." Praise the Lord ! _ I 
have not been " called," very frequently, but that is a matter I leave with 
Jesus entirely. A single case will be all I can give here. 
"N A man came to me, suffering intensely from a strange and complicated 
disease, which had absolutely baffled the combined skill of the physicians 
at the Jefferson hospital in Philadelphia. He had shortly before sought 
and obtained the blessing of a clean heart, and was rejoicing in the peace 
of God. After some conversation, I prayed with him, with anointing 
and laying on of hands. He had come to my house with difficulty, pale 
and covered with a clammy perspiration. As soon as the prayer was 
ended, he arose from his knees, grasped his hat, shook my hand and 
abruptly departed ; going off with a vigorous step. He at once began to 
tell of his healing ; and from that day to this, has not had a symptom of 
the disease. After six months of health, he got into spiritual trouble, and 
became dangerously ill with another complaint — heart disease. So serious 
was this that his physician left word at the church for special prayer in 
his behalf. When I visited him, he was lying on a lounge, gasping for 
breath. His pain had been so severe that he could not bear the weight 
of a sheet upon his chest. His spiritual difficulties had been all removed, 
and his simple faith took hold of Jesus again as the Healer. After prayer 
he sat up at once, and shortly amazed his physician and family beyond 
description by rising and going about his business. The next day he 
walked upward of six or seven miles ; and has been perfectly well ever 
since.* According to his faith it has been unto him. Let Jesus have all 
the praise. Amen ! 

I But how about the failures ? I do not " count " either failures or heal- 
ings. God keeps the books. It is my business to run his errands. He will 
take care of all results. " My Word shall not return unto Me void, but 
shall accomplish that whereunto it is sent." That is sufficient for me. 
We should never forget that the oxen may stumble without the least 
danger to the ark of testimony. If there was not a single recorded case 
of healing in history, I would stand on the promises of God, and declare 
them true. 

12. — Casting Out Devils. 
Another objection urged is, that if we take part of Mark xvi. 17, 18, 

* In the years that have elapsed this man has proved the doctrine again and again. A lapse 
into sin is followed by an attack of disease (different in kind). When he repents he is healed, 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 133 

we must take all ; and in this case what will we say for the casting out 
of devils, drinking deadly things, etc., etc. ? 

The best reply to this is of course the Scriptural one. We can afford 
to lose those verses from Mark and throw ourselves upon that wonderful 
verse, which no man would ever have dared to imagine had Jesus omitted 
to utter it ; " Yerily, verily I say unto you, He that believeth on me, the 
works that I do shall he do also, and greater works than these shall he 
do because I go unto my Father." — Jno. xiv. 12. Notice this declaration 
is of " him that believeth on me" CBut do you mean to say that devils 
actually possess people to-day % Most certainly I do. Any doubter is 
referred to "Pastor Blumhardt"* or to "Supernatural gifts of the 
Spirit "* for modern evidence on this point. 

The distinguished English physician, "Dr. Forbes Winslow, expressed 
his conviction that a large proportion of the patients in our lunatic 
asylums are cases of possession, and not of madness.? He distinguished 
the demoniac by a strange duality, and by the fact that, when tempo- 
rarily released from the oppression of the demon, he is often able to de- 
scribe the force which seizes upon his limbs, and compels him to acts or 
words of shame against his will."t / 

I myself have known such cases in Philadelphia. The prophecy of 
Paul in 1 Tim. iv. 1-3, cannot be avoided. The " last times " are upon 
us and the number of those who are listening to these " seducing spirits," 
and giving themselves up to the "doctrines of demons" is appalling. 
Truly we need " casting out,''* if it was ever needed. 

Let me ask, who originated the idea that in these " practical times," 
the personal devil no longer takes possession of the bodies of men ? Who 
suggested the thought that even the " possession " of Christ's day may 
have been only a form of insanity ? I answer the personal devil himself 
is the author of both. What more natural for him than to use his best 
endeavors to divert men's attention from himself and his works ? He 
well knows the first law of legerdemain — while doing one thing, talk 
about another, and thus fasten the spectators' eyes upon a false issue. 
Don't read Genesis ; it records the original curse upon the serpent. If 
you do read it, make it all figurative. Don't read Eevelation ; it de- 
scribes the final doom and punishment of Satan and his legions. It is all 
figure anyhow and you cannot understand it. Skip Ezekiel altogether ; 
it° deals in the next age of the world, and presupposes the curtailing of 
the devil's power. Kead diligently of the " lying spirit in the mouth of 
Ahab's prophets," and never forget the original question of "free 
thought." " Yea, hath God said ? " Is it not plain that this is all of a 
piece with the lying influence which to-day preaches the gospel of mate- 
rialism, and laughs at the supernatural in any form or dress ? Satan is 

* Willard's Tract Repository. 

f "Earth's Earliest Ages." Rev. G. H. Pember. 



134 DIVINE HEALING. 

not dead. He is. not tired. " He hath great wrath, knowing that his 
time is short." There are hundreds of men and women to-day, iust as 
thoroughly and literally " possessed of a devil " as was the boy who was 
brought to Jesus, or the man in the tombs of Gadara.j But, glory to 
God ! " they that believe," shall and do cast them out, in the name of the 
living Jesus, who hath " all power in heaven and earth." I really believe 
that the real secret of many diseases which baffle the skill of physicians 
lies in this unnatural "possession.". Medicine of course is worse than 
useless, and God's power is not invoked in simple faith. But the light is 
breaking through the clouds of doubt again, and God's power is being 
shown. Praise the Lord ! 

13. — Modern Thorns. 

It may be pertinently asked whether the experience of those who be- 
lieve for faith-healing ever coincides with the theory % Are there any 
modern " thorns in the flesh '?" I suggest this question intentionally, as 
I wish to open every possible point to the light of God's truth. 

Yes, there are many instances of " thorns." This serves to show that 
cases like Paul, and other Bible characters, are not rare exceptions, but 
rather types of a pretty general experience. Dorothea Triidel herself 
carried a personal deformity ; something of the nature of a crooked back; 
Samuel Zeller, who succeeded her at Manedorf, is healthy and strong, 
but his brother, who has great faith for others, is himself troubled with 
some ailment. Dr. Cullis is somewhat near-sighted. George O. Barnes 
has, or had a short time ago, defective sight. Mrs. Edward Mix was 
more or less threatened with throat affection. Mrs. Baxter (of the 
Christian Herald) is near-sighted, but otherwise healthy and strong. I 
am acquainted with a great many others, some of whom have symptoms 
more or less frequent, from which they would like to be relieved. 

I have thus frankly stated what may be considered to argue strongly 
against the doctrine set forth in this book ; but I do not fear it. As I 
said long ago ; this thing depends upon God's Word, not the testimony 
of man. God kept Moses to one hundred and twenty, without any other 
thorn than his real or imaginary slowness of speech ; and the same God 
is alive to-day. Now be it noticed, that in none of these modern cases 
has the " + horn " been of such a nature as to prevent incessant work for 
Jesus. These people were, or are, doing a prodigious amount of work ; 
laboring in the most varied ways to spread the glad tidings of salvation. 
What then can be argued from the existence of these " thorns ?" Certainly 
nothing against faith-healing in general, for every one of them has testi- 
fied to the healing power in them. Dr. Cullis' 3yes were seriously affected. 
He prayed about it, trusted Jesus for them, and has not been troubled 
since. Mrs. Mix was dying of consumption, and George O. Barnes was 
very delicate, but both were healed. In fact, for me to mention one who 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 135 

has a " thorn," is to mention one who has been wondrously raised up 
through the "prayer of faith." The only point, therefore, which may 
seem to be affected by these experiences, is the one of exemption from 
sickness. Before discussing this I must speak of my own case. In Mira- 
cles of Healing, I related how I was led to trust God for my eye. Well, 
all these years He has kept me. I have used the eye constantly; teach- 
ing, reading and writing, and have never taken my glass out of the case 
to this day. Praise the Lord ! But whenever I close my normal eye, I 
find the old defect or dimness in the sight still there. This indicates that 
the astigmatism remains. But at the same time it wonderfully speaks of 
God's power ; for my physician said that unless relieved by the glass, my 
eye would always be unfit for use, and give me great pain. Since I trusted 
the matter to Jesus, however, I have used it as much as I pleased, and 
yet have not suffered any serious pain. Thus the Lord's power is constantly 
manifested in the continued miracle of healing, by which the natural con- 
sequences of using an astigmatized eye are entirely prevented. When 
both eyes are open my sight is very good, and I am conscious of no de- 
fect whatever. So this "thorn" cannot be said to cause me any incon- 
venience at all. Nevertheless I have prayed for its removal, many times. 
I have earnestly besought God to give me some indications, from the 
Word, that it is His will for me to retain it ; but none such has ever been 
given. On the contrary, I have been directed to Scriptures as explicit as 
possible for absolute healing. Therefore I claim this, by faith in the 
promise. It is mine potentially, in God's Word ; and I know it shall be 
in the physical fact. Meanwhile I keep constantly asking for light to see 
God's leading in the matter, and for apprehension to learn the lesson 
intended. When the lesson is fully learned I know I shall be free, even 
from this. Praise the Lord ! 

This is the meaning of a a thorn," as I see it in God's Word, whether 
it be a sickness or some outer trial. A lesson is to be taught. We are 
slow to learn, and often some slight affliction is allowed in order to gain 
our attention. But the lesson learned, the thorn will be removed. Most 
certainly, if it in any way interferes with active work for the Master. 
For myself, I feel that I live on the Word of God. I never dreamed 
that I would ever see anything except a figure in that Scripture, " man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of 
the mouth of God ; but now I apprehend that it may be literally true. 
Again and again I am worn out with work ; human experience says, you 
must wait for a good night's rest, and that will restore you. A tired man 
must rest. But something presses in the Lord's work, and I go to the 
Word. " Himself took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses " literally, 
actually, positively gives me physical strength ; and I feel better after- 
ward than if I had taken the suggested rest. I do not mean that all 
rules of health are discarded ; quite otherwise. But I believe in doing 
what would be reasonable for a strong, healthy man under the circum- 



136 DIVINE HEAIIWG. 

stances ; and when the Lord specially leads, I believe in doing anything. 
At such times I realize most inarvelously that I live upon the living 
Word. There is nothing between my soul and hell but Jesus' blood. 
There is nothing between my body and death but the power of Christ. 
I am thus peculiarly and doubly the Lord's soul and body. Hallelujah ! 
£ Fanatical ! I do not consider this worthy of a distinct place as an 
objection. The cry of fanaticism has ever been a favorite with the devil. 
He can scare good people with that very often, when other means fail 
him utterly. But it has ever been the cry against radical truth. ) All 
real truth is radical. < The great trouble with the church of Christ to-day 
is that it is satisfied with half-truths, half -experiences. Our religion pro- 
fesses to be an " uttermost" religion, but the church is sadly wanting in 
uttermost examples. ) The quickest way to frighten many Christians is to 
urge them to believe God with that positive faith that assumes He means 
just what He says. Presumption! they say. "What presumption? 
Rather let us say it is presumption to take any place lower than the one 
assigned to us. A true child of God does not belong in the cellar, but on 
the house-top, and it is presumption to stay anywhere else. It presumes to 
know better than God, and it presumes on His mercy. O, beloved, let us 
take the place assigned to us, as children, at our Father's table, and have 
perfect confidence that His blessed "Word will feed us better than any- 
thing else in the universe., ; 

So we are told that there are hypocrites who are practicing faith-heal- 
ing purely to make money. This is sadly true. But what of it ? Only 
this ; it proves the existence of the real thing. The counterfeit always 
speaks of the genuine. Anti-Christs prove Christ always. " He maketh 
the wrath of men to praise him." 

14. ROMANIST MlRACLES. 

We are asked how are we to distinguish between the true and the 
false ; the evidence for the wonders at Lourdes and elsewhere is as direct 
as any given in modern Protestant faith-cures. What can be said about 
them? 

Simply this. God always keeps His word, no matter who claims it. 
" According to your faith be it unto you," is just as true to a Romanist 
as a Protestant. God has always " winked at " real unavoidable ignorance. 
When a Romanist goes to the grotto of Lourdes, and pleads with God 
for healing, if faith in God is exercised, healing comes of course. Make 
no mistake about this. God is no respecter of persons. He saved Rahab 
out of heathen Jericho, and healed the Syrian Naaman, simply because 
they believed in Him up to the light they had. Lest any should stumble 
at this, let me give positive evidence. Fortunately I am able to speak 
from knowledge. 

In July, 1883, Lieut. Emile Feffer, formerly instructor at St. Cyr, a 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 137 

professor witfi me in the Pennsylvania Military Academy, visited Lourdes 
for the express purpose of examining into the matter. He and I had 
talked it over several months before, and I urged him to go to Lourdes if 
possible. He has great reason to believe in God, having been himself 
wonderfully preserved and healed in answer to prayer. He is a member 
of the Episcopalian church. To be brief, he went to Lourdes. Under the 
date of July 27, 1883, he wrote me as follows : 

" Four days ago I came to Lourdes with a few friends. We stopped for a moment before 
the grotto. There was a large gathering of people kneeling on the ground and praying, and 
in the midst of them was an invalid lady, seated in a small hand carriage. My curiosity was 
aroused, and I dismounted. I drew near and upon inquiry was told that the lady, for whom 
they were praying, was lame. I then returned home. During the evening I thought over 
the matter, and determined that I would watch this case. The next day, Tuesday 24th, I 
went to Lourdes by rail, and attended the same services, but this time taking part in them; 
with very little faith, however. The prayers were offered at three different stations; the second 
being about ten yards distance from the first, and the third eighty yards from the second. 
When the party moved from the first to the second station, the lady said she felt like walk- 
ing. She was helped out of her carriage and she walked the ten yards, sustained on either 
side by her attendants. At the next move she was not allowed to walk at all. I left Lourdes 
profoundly moved and interested Next day I returned with the intention of seeing the 
final result. This morning, at ten o'clock, the service was held. The lady walked the first 
ten yards without any assistance, and then sat in her carriage during the prayers. When the 
next move began at eighty yards, she insisted upon walking, and she did walk alone the en- 
tire distance; entered the grotto, walked around it (about twenty-five yards), sat down upon 
an ordinary chair, and after the service, walked out to her carriage, about thirty yards dis- 
tant. These are facts which I saw. As soon as the crowd had dispersed somewhat, I 
approached the lady, as I desired to know the particulars from her own lips. I did not 
doubt her sincerity, for the emotion with which she prayed made me shiver The lady is 
Madame Maitre, from Bordeaux. She said: 'I have been ill for three years with an internal 
cancer, which has rendered me lame for the last eighteen months (incapable of walking). 
The physicians had exhausted every means, and declined to attempt au operation which 
would have certainly proved fatal. Two weeks ago I told my doctors that I would go to 
Lourdes, when they said that if I undertook such a trip I would die before reaching my des- 
tination. I replied that I would rather die than to live thus. So I came here; and now I am 
cured.' I asked, Do you believe the Virgin Mary cured you by her own power? 'Of course 
not,' she replied, 'but she interceded.' She is an educated person, and I expected this 
answer. During the day I questioned more than fifteen persons, of all ages and conditions, 
on this point, and received the same reply." 

f~ Just after transcribing the above letter (Feb. 6, 1884), I had a long 
talk with my friend about his visit to Lourdes, last summer. He was 
thrilled through and through by the intense emotion displayed by the 
lady and her friends while praying ; and satisfied beyond any question 
of their genuine faith in the power of God. He heard and saw other 
interesting things at Lourdes, but this will suffice. Now of course there 
is no disputing the fact that in some cases false miracles have been ad- 
vertised by dishonest priests for pecuniary ends. Any one who is familiar 
with Kirwan's famous letters to Archbishop Hughes will recall the 
evidence therein presented on this subject. Nevertheless it is supremely 
absurd, and decidedly unchristian, to assume that all Komanists are4iars, 
and all priests swindlers. That there is an immense amount of devout 
and simple faith in the church of Kome is a fact perfectly familiar to 



X38 DIVINE HEALING, 

every well-informed person ; and as that faith really centers in God, we 
should not be surprised if it secures its reward. These people have been 
accustomed to believe that miracles still exist in their church ; while we 
have been brought up in the proverb " the days of miracles have passed." 
They are therefore predisposed to believe in the supernatural. We are 
inclined to doubt everything but the material. However much of cor- 
ruption there has been and is in the Komish church, she has certainly one 
virtue which ought to put us to shame — she has not thrown away the 
last words of Christ, " These signs shall follow them that believe." And 
wherever " them that believe " are found to-day, there is found the fulfill- 
ment of that word which can never* pass away. This settles the whole 
controversy. Those who do God's will are they who " know of the 
doctrine." The skeptic never knows anything about God nor His word. 
He can not, for all spiritual knowledge comes through simple faith 
and asks no questions. Before we undertake to limit God's love and 
power to our particular ideas, we had better remember Peter on the 
house-top, the Centurion's daughter, the Syro-phoenician woman, and 
other instances in Scripture, wherein God has taught that He is no 
respecter of persons, but always bestows upon man " according to his 
faith." O, let us " have faith in God ! " 

15. — Glorifying God in Sickness. 

This is a most fertile objection. I have already treated it incidentally, 
and in the little tract " If it be Thy will," I endeavored to show its falsity 
more fully. To the query, can I not glorify* God in sickness, I reply with 
another question. Can I glorify God in sin? How? By getting Jesus to 
deliver me from sin at once. But, yoir say, that is not exactly fair; does 
not God allow sickness as" a sort* of discipline ? Ah! precisely. That is it 
exactly. So a father alio ws> or uses a whip as a " discipline." But what 
father or child esteems the whip in itself? Is- it not an evil, so to speak? 
"Who uses the whip a moment longer than is necessary to teach the lesson? 
Now I do beseech any oner who may read these lines to consider this 
point. My brother, if you claim that God wants' you to continue in sick- 
ness for his glory, you proclaim beforef men, angeis and devils, that you 
have not learned God's lesson, in spite of his efforts to instruct you. Your 
supposed humility then really becomes genuine evidence of obstinacy. God 
is in a sense whipping you; and this process has been going on for a long 
time. You say you are glorifying God, by compelling Him to keep up the 
punishment. ]N ow do you not think that the better way is to meekly and 
quietly learn the lesson; give up all, and take all in Jesus ? suppose your 
child had to be whipped every day at school, would you mention the cas- 
tigation to your friends to show how beautifully the child set forth the 
just methods of the teacher ? or would you strive to reduce the child to 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 139 

a state of obedience ? "When will you learn the lesson Saul missed, that 
" to obey is better than sacrifice f " 

Again, this idea of " necessary discipline," involves the fatal error of 
supposing that my own personal development is the chief end of life, and 
that something else is needed besides the blood of Christ. Now H man's 
chief end is to glorify God, and to enjoy Him forever," beginning now. 
In order to glorify God, in the highest sense, we must be entirely His. 
But we become His not through the merit of our sufferings at all, but by 
the sufferings of Jesus. In other words there is only one door — the door 
of Faith. " Jesus Christ is made unto us wisdom and righteousness and 
sanctification and redemption." Surely any one can see that the very 
acknowledgment that we are suffering a " discipline " implies that some 
lesson is unlearned. But how shall we learn it ? By stubbornly bearing 
the punishment ? or by applying our whole energies to the task of closely 
following the delicate leadings of the spirit ? If sickness must come, it is 
generally because the " flesh " will not die. We fail to " reckon ourselves 
dead indeed unto sin," and again fail to reckon ourselves " alive unto God 
through Jesus Christ." Truly the only real way to glorify God in sick- 
ness is to give Him a chance to manifest his power in destroying it, as 
one of the works of the devil. 

But many a soul has been converted in sickness. True. So some men 
have been converted in jail, or upon the gallows. Francis Murphy, the 
great temperance lecturer was saved in a prison cell ; but no one would 
argue that he should have remained there any longer than necessary. 
The Lord's truth is unsparing, and I must speak as before my God. It 
may seem a hard thing to say, but it is plain that the saintly reputation 
of many lingering invalids cannot be built upon their years of suffering, 
for these are rather the evidence either of some great sin in the past, or 
of a persistent lack of conformity to the will of God in one way or another. 
Mark, I do not assert that every sick man is to be set down as a great sin- 
ner; but merely to say that his sickness is by no means a correct evidence 
of his sanctity. The weight of inference, were it our business to judge, 
would bear strongly the other way. I press this point because the Lord 
gives me to see the greatest danger in false humility. He who is thanking 
God for the equanimity with which he bears his sufferings, had better ask 
for grace to open his eyes wide enough to see the finger of Jesus beckoning 
him on to a more complete self -surrender and simple faith. 

I quote again from Stockmayer. " It cannot be denied that sickness 
itself, by the manner in which it is accepted and borne, may be a means 
of glorifying God. Job, by bowing at least in the beginning of his sickness 
unreservedly to the will of God, rendered him that service which God had 
from the first expected of man. And even to-day there are hundreds of 
God's children, who, through their patience and resignation on beds of 
sickness and pain, glorify God and show forth his praise. May they 



140 DIVINE HEALING. 

remain faithful so long as God gives them no further leading, nor allow 
themselves to be troubled by anybody." 

" We are not able to fulfill the commands of God, or to respond to the 
demands of his holiness in such way that we may lay claim to happiness, 
health, and life, as our right. The " Accuser " is only silenced by the work 
and perfect righteousness of Christ. Thus Job could not prevail as long as 
he pleaded his rights." 

" Sin has displaced our life's center, and given a wrong direction to 
our whole being. Instead of God, our own self becomes the center 
around which everything within us revolves. The work of redemption 
restores things again to order, and brings back the original relations. To 
be redeemed, therefore, means nothing less than to take again our right 
and true place with regard to God ; to deny ourselves. . . . Heart 
and head, eyes, ears and mouth, hands and feet, all the members of our 
body, all our powers of love and thought, must be yielded to the Lord 
for his use. He must take the reins of our life into his hand." 

" Now sickness is one of the modes of discipline which the Father 
employs to makes us captives to his Son, his conquered and willing subjects. 
The nearer a child of God is to his Father, the more jealous is the Father 
for his Son, that he may see in this child the full fruit of his death, and so 
gain a full victory over him. If therefore Satan attacks by preference 
the most useful and fruitful of God's servants, and seeks though sickness 
to rob the Lord of at least a portion of their members, it is not simply 
that God permits it, it is God himself who sometimes gives even these, 
his most blessed children, to sickness for a while, until their self -life is 
thoroughly judged" 

Hezekiah declared a great truth when, speaking of his sickness he said 
" O Lord by these things men live, and in all these things is the life of my 
spirit." But notice that he immediately adds : " So wilt thou recover me, 
and make me to live." — (Isa. xxxviii. 16). 

" For God speaketh once, yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not. In a 
dream, in a vision of the night, when deep sleep f alleth upon men, in 
slumberings upon the bed ; then he openeth the ears of men, and sealeth 
their instruction, that he may withdraw man from his purpose, and hide 
pride from man. He keepeth back his soul from the pit, and his life from 
perishing by the sword. He is chastened also with pain upon his bed, 
and the multitude of his bones with strong pain ; so that his life abhor- 
feth bread, and his soul dainty meat. His flesh is consumed away, that 
it cannot be seen ; and his bones that were not seen stick out. Yea, his 
*oul draweth near unto the grave, and his life to the destroyers. If there 
\e a messenger with him, an interpreter, one among a thousand, to show un- 
to man his uprightness ; then he is gracious untoliim, and saith, Deliver 
Mm from going down to the pit / I have found a ransom (or atonement). 
His flesh shall be fresher than a child's ; he shall return to the days of 
his youth. (A new life — a divine impartation.) He shall pray unto 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 



Ml 



God, and he will be favorable unto him ; and he shall see his face with 
joy ; for he will render unto man his righteousness. He looketh upon 
men, and if any say, I have sinned, and perverted that which was right, 
and it profited me not ; He will deliver his soul from going into the pit, and 
his life shall see the light. Lo, all these things worketh God oftentimes 
with man, to bring back his soul from the pit, to be enlightened with the 
light of the living." — Job xxxiii. 

Now, any one who will read these verses from the "Word, cannot fail 
to be struck with their plain teaching. Here we are distinctly told by 
Elihu, the " daysman," these things come upon man as a discipline, to 
u withdraw man from his purpose, and hide pride from man." Then, 
after minutely describing physical suffering, he positively affirms that if 
a tt messenger " or an " interpreter " sets the truth before him and he ac- 
cepts it, " then " God is gracious to him, and delivers him, having " found 
a ransom." And with minute detail the restoration of perfect physical 
health is set forth : " His flesh shall be fresher than a child's : he shall re- 
turn to the days of his youth." Then, not slighting the way and means 
of this wonderful restoration, Elihu specifies how it can be secured. 
Strangely enough he agrees exactly with the Apostle James. Prayer 
was the Scriptural " means " in the days of Job, as well as in the Chris- 
tian era. " He shall pray unto God, and he will be favorable unto him, 
etc." It may be well to parallel the two directions ; 1 t will do us good to 
see how God is " the same, yesterday, to-day and forever." 



SCRIPTURAL MEANS OF HEALING. 



According to Elihu. 

b. c. 

Call for a "messenger * * an interpreter/' 
" He shall pray." 
"Unto God." 

"And he shall he favorable unto him." 

" He (God) will deliver his soul from going 

down into the pit, and his life shall see the 

light." 
"If any say, I have sinned, and perverted 

right, He will deliver his soul," etc. 



According to St. James. 

A. D. 

" Call for the elders of the church." 

" Let them pray for him." 

" Anointing him with oil m the name of 

the Lord." 
"And the prayer of faith shall heal the 

sick." 
" And the Lord shall raise him up." 

"If he have committed sins they shall be 
forgiven him." 



Truly His word endureth forever. The way of ceremonies may 
change, but the way of faith, never. Let us especially notice that Elihu 
emphasizes the fact that all these sicknesses come solely, " To bring back 
his own soul from the pit." O, yes, you say ; we will agree to that: 
sickness is necessary sometimes to keep a man from being lost. Ah ! 
brother, read on. The old preacher was just guided by the Spirit to pro- 
vide for that point. He adds, with a clearness that admits of no denial, 
that the discipline is not only to save from hell, but also that the patient 



142 DIVINE HEALING. 

may "be enlightened with the light of the living" Hezekiah says : "The 

frave cannot praise thee, the living, the living, he shall praise thee, as I 
o this day." — Isa. xxxviii. 18-19. O, brother, do you not see your privi- 
lege in Christ Jesus ? 

It is true that every sick man and woman cannot, or more properly 
will not, be healed. There are those who have believed the evil report 
of the spies, and who cannot enter into the promised land, but must per- 
force wander and die in the desert. This is true, spiritually and physi- 
cally. But no one who hears of the Gospel to the sick for the first time 
can claim to be of that number, unless, indeed, his resistance to spiritual 
leading has been so obstinate and persistent that body and soul are alike 
debarred from Canaan. At the same time I apprehend that not many, if 
any, will advance into perfect trust for the body, who do not perfectly 
trust for the soul. Why should they ? When Jesus was on earth, visible 
to sense, sense took the stronger hold. Kesult ; thousands were physi- 
cally healed, and comparatively few thoroughly regenerated. But as 
soon as Christ became visible only to the spiritual eye of faith, these 
things were reversed. Thousands of souls believed ; but few were and 
are healed. The reason is plain. Man realizes that sense cannot save his 
soul, but it is desperately hard to give up a sensible physical body entirely 
to the control of faith. Therefore, the supposed danger is not likely to 
exist. If a man can trust for bodily healing, in real faith, it almost 
necessitates a co-existent soul-faith. Experience abundantly proves this 
to be true ; for no one has been known to trust for the body, who has not 
received a great spiritual blessing, even when the healing has been with- 
held. 

, — A minister of the gospel, recently healed through faith, writes : <s I 
did believe that my lameness bound me closer to the gracious Lord, but I 
know, now, that daily looking to him for health and strength, binds me a 
thousand-fold closer. The spiritual growth and quickening, consequent 
on this blessing of accepted healing, I value far more than I do my re- 
stored health itself." 

But it will be objected that if God will remove a disciplinary sickness, 
as soon as the lesson is learned, why will He not also remove a disciplin- 
ary temptation in the same way ? But the Bible says, " count it all joy 
when ye fall into divers temptations." 

This is easily answered. We must remember that a temptation is not 
a sin. It is sent from the outside (in the case of a heart wholly sancti- 
fied), and we are distinctly told that, no matter what it may be, God 
" will provide a way that ye may be able to bear it." We are to put on 
the " whole armor," and with the shield of faith " quench all the fiery 
darts of the devil." Nothing is said about the darts piercing the armor, 
rankling in the flesh, poisoning the blood, and requiring to be pulled out. 
]STo, praise the dear Lord ! they are all to be stopped, on the outside. 
They may keep us very busy, active in prayer, in the use of the " sword 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 143 

of the Spirit," and the " shield of faith," but they are to be quenched be- 
fore they wound us. We " count it all joy when we fall into divers 
temptations," but by no means when we fall under divers temptations. 
How plain this makes it ! Sickness is not a dart, but a wound. Satan 
can use it as a " dart," or a temptation, by threatening us with disease. 
He often shakes his dart at me, and tells me — now you are going to have 
a cold ; don't you feel it coming '( You are all worn out by overwork, 
and are getting low fever ; you know it is creeping on you now, etc. 
And when he says these things, he often manages to insinuate a slight 
symptom of the disorder mentioned. This is the " dart." It becomes a 
positive temptation to he sick. But by God's grace I raise the " shield of 
faith," and cry out, " Himself took my infirmities and bore my sicknesses," 
and the " dart " is " quenched." At the same time I earnestly entreat 
the Lord to show me whether I have neglected any leading of the Spirit, 
and to open my eyes to behold wondrous things out of His law. And I 
do not " think it strange," for I know that " the trying of my faith work- 
eth patience." If I am trusting Jesus to keep me from anything, I may 
naturally expect Satan to specially tempt me on that very line. 

But I do not have to be sick, in order to be tried any more than I am 
compelled to sin. The temptations must come, but praise the Lord ! they 
need not enter in. The three Hebrew children walked in the very midst 
of the burning fiery furnace, surrounded by fire, walled in by fire, walk- 
ing on fire, seeing fire all around them ; but the Son of God was there, 
and when they came out not even "the smell of fire had passed on them." 
It had passed all around them ; it had wreathed itself into terrible shapes, 
it had hissed and roared ; but it could not pass on them, for they walked 
with the Son of God. ¥e can glorify God by quenching the darts, but 
not so well by getting wounded and disabled, all along the line. Surely 
the Christian's warfare is a fight in the field, not an existence in the am- 
bulance and the hospital. The only true way to glorify God in the midst 
of sin, sickness, or any temptation whatever, is to have the power of an 
almighty Saviour prevent them all from penetrating the whole armor of 
God in which we are clothed. 

We sometimes hear people talk about " kissing the rod " which chas- 
tises them. This is part and parcel of the miserable delusion of Satan 
that God himself actually and directly wields that rod. It is very easy 
to substantially set forth from Scripture that sin itself maybe called a 
rod of correction in many cases ; in that the consequence is inseparably 
connected with the act. But who will talk of kissing sin ? Or the rod 
may be sickness, which is admitted on all sides to be, in general, the 
result of sin. Shall we kiss sickness ? Is it a good thing ? Does not God 
distinctly set it forth as a curse ? I do not intentionally avoid the higher 
meaning, however. It will be claimed that the law is holy and just and 
good, and that "kissing the rod" properly means a humble acquiescence 
in God's law. Well this is all right of course, but unfortunately it is one 



144: DIVINE HEALING. 

of those short truths that do not span the particular chasm before us. 
When people talk this way they forget that God's law has two grand 
divisions, 

1. The Law of Death. 

2. The Law of Life. 

Anything, anything to beat Jesus Christ, — is the devil's everlasting 
maxim. He will allow us, and even persuade us to accept the law of 
death, if thereby we are blinded to the law of life. " Kissing the rod " 
simply means acknowledging God's justice in the whippings we receive. 
It should mean that we kiss not only the rod of justice, but also the rod 
of power. The rod of Moses carried death and destruction to Egypt, 
but life and deliverance to Israel. O reader, just resolve to kiss the rod 
on the other side, the side of a whole and perfect salvation from all the 
works of the devil m your soul and body ! As a matter of fact I do not 
read of " kissing the rod " in the Word, but I do read " kiss the Son lest 
he be angry, and ye perish from the way. Blessed are all they that put 
their trust in him." Ah ! give Jesus the kiss of trust, not merely the 
token of a reluctant submission. 

This gives us the right view as to 

16. — God's Will to Heal. 

A lady at Old Orchard once talked with me on this subject. She 
assured me quite volubly of her absolute consecration to God, and her 
willingness to do anything for Him ; but she could not help thinking it 
was God's will that she should continue to suffer. I asked her if she was 
willing to believe God. Of course she was ! Well then could she believe, 
" Is any sick, let them call," etc. Here she hesitated. Now there is just 
one £hing which ought to cause this false excuse for the absence of faith 
to stick in the throat. It is this : Nearly every one of these people who say 
they believe or suppose it is God's will for them to be sick, have been and are 
diligently seeking remedies all over the face of the earth, and spending all 
their substance on physicians, in the direct effort to get well. They are 
thus, by their own confession, placed in the position of obstinate rebellion 
against the will of God. They say it is God's will they should be ill, 
and at that very time are doing all in their power to defeat that will. 
Let all such invalids be consistent. Give up all medicines at once, and 
lie down in submission to the supposed will of God. When a pain comes, 
cry out, it is the will of God, praise the Lord for it ! When you feel sick 
and faint, exclaim, praise the Lord for this also. Just try it for a while. 
Be consistent if you dare. 

But that is the difficulty. These are the very people who will not 
dare ; the very persons who will hang on to the medicine bottle with the 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 145 

clutch of a drowning marij If it were not such a terribly serious matter 
it would seem supremely ridiculous to stand by a sick man, hear him ex- 
press his resignation to the will of God in measured terms, and then as- 
sist him to take his regular dose of some celebrated human remedy. The 
Lord grant that we may all be driven from this absurdly false position ! 

As a last resort, however, some one says : How can I know but that 
it is God's will for me to suffer at least for a time ? And. how shall I ] eel 
sure that He does not want me to use these gracious means and medicines 
which have saved so many lives ? The answers to these are conclusive, 
and brief. 1. To know His will, read His word. If you do not hear 
Moses and the prophets, a risen dead man will not persuade you. Now 
God gives just one specific direction in His word to the sick, and that is a 
direction to get well. As to time, the only salvation in Scripture is a now 
salvation. 2. To know God's will as to means and medicines, read His 
word. His means and medicines are threefold, — prayer of faith, laying 
on of hands, anointing with oil in the name of the Lord. Generally, :i 
you can get rid of your pride, your self-conceit, your unbelieving heart, 
and offer the sacrifice of simple, child-like obedience, you can be healed 
and saved to the uttermost now. God is always ready to do His work, 
but it must be done in His own way. We must be very, very humble to 
do God's work in His way. Peter and Paul were more thoroughly and 
deeply abused than the rest of the apostles, and we find that they alone 
were trusted to raise the dead. " The deepest depths lead to the loftiest 
heights." Even when God's will was expressed Hezekiah and Moses 
prayed importunately and their prayers were answered : the former for 
his own sickness, the latter for the sinful nation. 

I am now going to venture on a startling statement. "No man can 
fully and completely offer the Lord's prayer, who does not really desire, 
above all things, that God's will shall be done in his body, soul and spirit. 
" The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit." In order to pray " Thy will 
be done in earth as it is in heaven," I must have nothing whatever be- 
tween me and God. {I must be cordially willing to be deemed a fool for 
Christ's sake ; to be called a fanatic, and to be looked upon with suspicion, 
even by my best friends/ I must be ready to stand on God's word against 
my family, and relations, and even against persecution from high official 
sources.:, I must earnestly long for God's perfect work to be done in my 
entire being, and especially, that it be done in God's way. I must im- 
plicitly accept the rule of faith as the guide of my daily life in all things, 
small or great. \ And I must believe of course that God is ready now to 
perform His will in me, even to the uttermost. In the light of the truth, 
we see that God's best will for us in this life is perfect freedom from the 
dominion or pollution of sin, and its attendants (sickness included) ; and, 
"iFwe walk in the light, as he is in the light, we have fellowship one 
with another, and the blood of Jesus Christ, his Son, cleanseth us from 
all sin.'*\ Praise the Lord I 



146 DIVINE HEALING. 

There is not a law, given under Moses, that is plainer and more posi- 
tive than the law of physical health, in Ex. xv. 26. And there is not a 
command, given under the gospel, more explicit and more clear in its at- 
tendant promise than the direction to the sick, in James v. 14, 15. We 
believe that Jesus actually " bore our sins in his own body on the tree, " 
and consequently we do not have to remain in sin. And we read that 
" Himself took our infirmities and bore our sicknesses. " How then can 
we possibly fail to see that " by His stripes we are healed, " in body as 
well as in soul ? Glory to God ! for a perfect and a present salvation ! 

17. — That Eeview Article. 

In the Presbyterian Review for July, 1883, appeared an article on 
" Modern Miracles, by Eev. Marvin B. Yincent, D. D. His object was to 
show that the theories presented in Dr. A. J. Gordon's book, " The Min- 
istry of Healing, " are erroneous. In the course of this article, which is 
exceedingly courteous throughout, he advances many objections. It 
may be well to notice those which he deems most important, and subject 
them to the proper test of scriptural logic. I will simply take them as 
they occur, without regard to consecutiveness of thought. 

1. He* quotes Trench as saying that miracles in Scripture are clus- 
tered around a few great epochs and persons, and argues that this proves 
that God has 1 not intended them to be common. 

Answer. So far as marked miracles over nature are concerned this may 
be granted (only for the sake of argument ;) but with regard to the heal- 
ing of sickness, a sufficient reply is found in Jesus' words, " And many 
lepers ( were in Israel in the time of Eliseus the prophet ; and none of them 
was cleansed, saving 1 Naaman the Syrian. " — Luke iv. 27. This was 
spoken in Nazareth, where " he did not many mighty works because of 
their unbelief. " — Matt. xiii. 58. Here Christ clearly gives the reason 
why more miracles were not performed — unbelief. Again, the very 
epochs he cites — Moses, Elijah, Babylonish captivity, present the truth he 
widely misses, that when men are thrown desperately upon God, and 
God alone, the kind of faith springs up which allows " mighty works " 
to be done. " All things are possible only to him that believeth. " Dr. 
Vincent says himself, on p. 476, " Supernatural interventions are not lav- 
ished in unnecessary and wasteful profusion. They come only at the call 
of need. " Certainly ; and as we have just seen, desperate need begets 
desperate faith, and then miracles are not in danger of being " wasted, " 
as they would be if cast before unbelievers. 

2. He alludes to Dr. Gordon's citation of healings and miracles 
among all struggling and persecuted churches ; as the Moravians, Hugue- 
nots, Covenanters, Friends, Baptists, Methodists, Waldenses, etc. He 
then attempts to answer this by saying, " the great revivals which have 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 147 

taken place in this country do not confirm Mr. Gordon's sweeping state- 
ment that miracles " everywhere " attend " a revival of faith." 

Answer. This is very wide of the mark. Miracles do not specially 
attend a " revival of faith " which has no possible faith in modern mir- 
acles. How absurd to imagine that any class of men, who discredit the 
supernatural entirely, will ever be healed miraculously, no matter how 
much their spiritual faith be revived. If Dr. Yincent will take the pains 
to follow the already wonderful history of the " revival of faith " for 
physical healing, that has been rising all over Christendom for the last 
forty years, he will find that miracles of healing are multiplying with the 
most astonishing rapidity. 

3. " Granting they spring up around the cradle of a new-born faith, 
they follow the great general law of retrocession which marks the dis- 
play of miraculous energy along the line of Christian development." 

Answer. If they do, what is proven ? Why is it that spiritual power 
and interest recede after a time of revival % It will be very hard to show 
that God arbitrarily withholds the power when we read so many promises 
in Scripture. Dr. Yincent says that the miracles have fallen off in much 
greater proportion than the spiritual manifestations. Well, suppose that 
men naturally lose faith in the active, present benefits of Christ's salva- 
tion, while clinging to the more vague, future deliverance from hell. Who 
will venture to say this is not so ? The truth is the present fruits of sal- 
vation require a vivid, present renunciation and faith. Thousands trust 
God for eternity ; who cannot possibly make up their minds to trust Him 
for time. How few, alas ! realize the present cleansing from all sin, which 
is their blood-bought privilege ! Is it any wonder then that so many 
have failed to know Jehovah Rophi ? 

4. Dr. Bushnell is quoted as saying, " What is wanted is a full, con- 
secutive inventory of the supernatural events or phenomena of the world." 

Answer. ,No, what is wanted is unquestionable faith in God. There 
are too many calls for somebody to indorse God's notes of promise. But 
why did not Dr. Yincent quote from Bushnell, when the latter gives case 
after case of modern miracles ? See " Nature and the Supernatural," by 
Horace Bushnell, last chapter. 

5. " It is very easy to point out multitudes of cases where every evi- 
dence testifies to a high degree of living faith, but where these signs do 
not follow, and never have followed them which believe ; and these cases 
are in the vast majority over those in which miraculous energy is devel- 
oped or claimed." 

Answer. This is the most unfortunate argument possible. It is a clear 
case of argumentative suicide. The truth is this " vast majority " never 
had any faith whatever in the " signs ; " never dreamed of asking God for 
them, as the apostles did (Acts iv. 29, 30) ; never thought of taking Paul's 
direction literally " covet earnestly the best gifts," — (1 Cor. xii. 31); and, in 
short would, with one voice, unite with Dr. Yincent in saying, " The days 



148 DIVINE HEALING. 

of miracles have passed." Think of the most spiritual man you please ; 
one who walks near to God. Then try to imagine the sick being healed 
in answer to his prayers, when he frankly expresses his entire disbelief in 
the present application of Mark xvi. 17, James \. J 4, 15, and 1 Cor. xii. 
How are the signs to follow those who dc not and never did believe in 
the signs f The apostles did believe in them, and they specially asked 
God to send them through them. When the " vast majority" do this and 
fail, then Dr. Vincent's argument will be in order. 

6. Dr. Gordon having stated that raising the dead was not included 
in the " signs," Dr. Yincent argues that we cannot account for the resur- 
rection of Dorcas. 

Answer. Jesus, himself, healed every day, but he only raised the dead 
three times. This of itself indicates an exceptional quality in this miracle. 
The apostles only performed it twice, so far as we know. This confirms 
ihe thought. The true reply is that the Spirit evidently directed Peter 
and Paul upon these special occasions. Peter only spoke after he had 
"kneeled down and prayed." Dr. Gordon quotes from "Scot's Wor- 
thies " the testimony as to the raising from the dead of a young man, in 
answer to forty- eight hours continuous prayer, by the covenanter, John 
Welch. Dr. Yincent does not notice that; I presume he does not 
believe it. Dr. Gordon aptly says, " If we are startled to ask in amaze- 
ment — ' are such things possible in modern times ? * we might better begin 
with the question, has such praying and resistless importunity with God 
ever been heard of in modern times ? " If we can get a miraculous faith, 
the miraculous work will be easy enough to credit. 

7. Dr. Yincent quotes John xiv. 12, and adds : " If that promise is 
literally applicable to the healing of the sick in the church of all ages, it 
is equally applicable to the other works performed by Christ, and true 
believers in the modern church ought to do greater works than these 
and more of them." 

Answer. Will Dr. Yincent produce the " true believers " who have 
actual faith that the Lord calls them tc do these " greater works " ? Cer- 
tainly "true believers" ought to do many things; but where are the 
" true believers " to be found ? But, is it not perfectly clear that all such 
signs and wonders must, of necessity, be under God's control and not 
man's ? Dr. Yincent like Dr. Cuyler, makes the common mistake of sup- 
posing that these miraculous powers are to be under the immediate di- 
rection of the believer. Did Paul work as he pleased ? Did Moses per- 
form a single miracle undirected by God « Surely Christians ought not 
to be so blind on this point. Let the skeptic be assured, that a real 
" true believer " will do any mighty work whatever for God's glory, when 
God directs him to do it. Two things are absolutely essential, both of 
which are totally ignored by objectors. First, a Christian who really has 
faith for and in the miracle. Second, the direction of the Spirit to per- 
form it, In the case of praying with the sick, we have the plain com- 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 149 

mand, " Is any sick," etc. But for the rest we have no word which says 
all these signs shall follow every believer ; but rather the contrary, for 
Paul speaks of the " Spirit dividing to every man severally as he will" — 
1 Cor. xii. 11. As to the special signs of tongues, drinking deadly things, 
resisting the bite of serpents, etc., see " Supernatural Gifts of the Spirit/'* 

8. "It surely requires no argument to show that the Lord's Supper, 
prefigured in the formal institution of the Passover, and solemnly enjoined 
on the Church as a perpetual observance, stands' on a^different basis from 
the healing of the sick. The following statement of Mr. Gordon is simply 
monstrous : ' In St. James' Epistle we find healing recognized as an ordi- 
nance just as in Paul's Epistles to the Komans and Corinthians we find 
Baptism and the Lord's Supper recognized as ordinances. As °igns they 
could never lose their significance till the Lord comes again.' " 

Answer. The Lord's Supper was " prefigured in the formal institution 
of the Passover." Granted. But who knew that under Moses % It was 
only ''prefigured." Whereas, healing by the power of God was much 
more "prefigured." It was set forth in whole chapters of the law; it was 
formally " enjoined upon the church " (Israel), in company with the rest 
of the law, as continually binding. It was enunciated in the most positive 
of plain language in Ex. xv. 26. It was repeated again and again, see Ex. 
xxiii. 25; Lev. xxvi. 15, 16, 40; Deut. v. 33 ; and vii. 15, and xxxii. 39 ; 1 
Sam. ii. 6. When Christ came He said that he " came not to destroy the 
law, but to fulfill." This special law of healing, by God's power alone, 
was almost the first one He set forth. He made it His daily business. 
Even where people had so much " unbelief" that He could not do " many 
mighty works," He healed a few sick people. He handed over this heal- 
ing commission to the twelve, then to the seventy, and finally to " them 
that believe." Miracles of healing were the first He wrought, according 
to Matthew, Mark, and Luke, and the commission to heal constitutes the 
last codicil of His New Testament, accompanying the declaration "all 
power is given unto me in heaven and earth," -*nd, " Lo, I am with you 
alway, even to the end of the age." The Acts of the Apostles refer to 
this twenty times to one reference to the Lord's Supper, and the propor- 
tion is in its favor in the Epistles. James ' solemnly enjoins " this ordi- 
nance upon the " twelve bribes scattered abroad; " and even the Eevelator, 
as we have seen, omits to men don sickness In the list of the tabulations 
left benind on earth. Healing by faith was not only " prefigured," but 
was practiced all along the agss before Christ, and since mat time has 
been continuously known in the ehurch to " them that believe." It is 
true Christ stopped the ceremonial law but He only strengthened and 
enlarged the moral and spiritual law. 

9. Di. Yincent attempts to weaken the force of the argument by cit- 
ing cases of recovery through the effect of imagination, etc. Again he 

* Willard Tract Repository, Boston. 



150 DIVINE HEALING. 

does good service in substantiating some of the Romish miracles. He 
says of these, " The fact remains, cures are wrought (at Lourdes and else- 
where) and the testimony to the cures is abundant, and as respectable as 
that which attests the work of Dorothea Triidel or of Dr. Cullis." 

Answer. Nobody discredits the force of the imagination. Many 
people have been cured in that way who did not trust in God. "With 
them we have nothing whatever to do at present. We are speaking 
about those who do trust. Suppose it be shown that a man, whose im- 
agination could not possibly be spurred into sufficient activity by love of 
life, family ties and affections, physical sufferings or physicians' remedies, 
suddenly takes hold of God by faith and rapidly recovers. And suppose 
it be admitted that his imagination was the agent used in his restoration 
to health. What then ? Who should have the glory ? I do not know 
what particular medicine God uses in each case, but if I happen to dis- 
cover its name, shall I transform the medicine into the physician % But 
this whole line of argument begs the question. There are plenty of cases 
where imagination could by no possibility have operated in the least. 
Read of the scalded child in " Pastor Blumhardt," of the many cures of 
cancer, of broken limbs healed in a night, of blind eyes thoroughly 
restored, of cut and shrunken tendons renewed, and of the many, many 
testimonies so rapidly multiplying on all sides.* 

10. He asserts that Christ " never despised natural agencies, but used 
them freely." 

Answer. For proof of this remarkable statement he offers the water 
changed to wine at Cana, and the net used in the miraculous draught of 
fishes. Strange blindness that cannot see the test of faith given to those 
about our Lord. The use of the water in itself proved His power over 
nature, while it gave occasion for faith in those who stood by. The net 
was not necessary to get the fishes into the boat ; God's power could 
have caused them to leap in ; but it was necessary to try the disciple's 
faith. They had " toiled all night and taken nothing," and now Jesus 
told them to cast just where the} r had been dragging. They might well 
have said, Lord, there are no fish here, we have tried already ; but some- 
how their faith stood the test, they obeyed orders without any theorizing, 
and of course received their reward. 

11. He thinks that miracles would be " cheapened " if given as "ordi- 
nary remedies for sick headache or colic." 

Answer. Never despise the day of small things. Praise the dear 
Lord ! there are no little things with God. If he did not take his best 
care of the atoms, the worlds would go to smash. Did our good brother 
ever think God's providential care is " cheapened " by counting the hairs 
of his head, or by taking care of a little sparrow when it falls to the 

* See numerous publications in Willard Tract Repository Catalogue. This answer meets 
Dr. Buckley's arguments from " phenomena " alone. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 151 

ground ? How gloriously " cheap " this healing power was when Jesus 
" healed all that had need of healing," and when " as many as touched 
were made perfectly whole ! " The Saviour, who can note that a man 
is " carrying a pitcher of water," can surely listen when His children puf- 
fer with a sick headache. " Except ye become as little children." How 
the church needs that truth to-day. : What true mother ever thought her 
love " cheapened " by listening to the childish troubles of her boy ~'( Bless 
the Lord, salvation is so cheap that it is absolutely free ! 

12. " If indeed, society, after the lapse of these Christian centuries, 
can be redeemed • -nly by a second manifestation of God in the flesh, 
then it may be frankly conceded that it needs physical miracles to attest 
and effectuate the work of redemption. (/Then the work of the Holy 
Spirit is branded with failure, and He is proved impotent to fulfill His 
promise to convict the world of sin, of righteousness, and of judgment." 
— John xvi. 8-11. 

Answer. "When will Christians, as a body, give up the idea that the 
church is destined to convert the world ? u Evil men and seducers shall 
wax worse and worse," " In the last days perilous times shall come," 
' As it was in the days of Noah, so shall it be also in the days of the Son 
of man. They did eat, they drank, they married wives, they were given 
in marriage, until the day that ISToah entered into the ark, and the flood 
came and destroyed them all. Even thus shall it be in the day that the 
Son of man is revealed." The leaden (always a symbol of death and 
destruction) works till the whole is leavened. The tares and wheat both 
"grow together till the harvest. These and a multitude of other 
Scriptures are totally ignored. The quotation from John xvi. 8-11, is 
most singularly unfortunate. It contains a plain declaration that the 
Holy Spirit shall " convict " .''that is the real meaning of the Greek) the 
world of sin, if righteousness, and of judgment. We may well quote 
Christ's question, " When the Son of man cometh shall He find faith on 
earth ? " A world "convicted " of sin, righteousness and judgment, cer- 
tainly has the greatest possible need of miracles of salvation. The Holy 
Spirit is working hard to-day to " convict " the world, but the world 
listens to the siren song, rwe are growing better every day," and 
refuses to acknowledge the conviction. Christians shut their eyes W 
their lack of real, earnest, simple faith ; and eloquently discourse about 
all these " Christian centuries," and of the development of " Chris- 
(tianity," It would not be very hard, in looking over the " Christian cen- 
turies," to show that the tares have lived up to their reputation, and grown 
faster than the wheats The most remarkable development in real Christian 
experience seems to be the development of unbelief, ^and of innumerable 
schemes for limiting God, and discrediting the plain sense of His word.* 

* It may startle most readers to know that che Mohammedan missionaries to-day secure 
three to six converts to every one converted to Christianity, 



*- 



(U«x 




152 DIVINE HEALING. 

Our brother seems to forget the many prophecies which distinctly 
affirm that the " second manifestation " will be preceded and attended by 
miracles, much more astounding than any that even Moses ever saw. In 
view of these tremendous facts, may we not as well ask whether the 
marked revival of miracles of healing in modern times' is not one of those 
signs which surely indicate the speedy coming of the Lord ? Let us lift 
up our heads, for our redemption draweth nigh ; that redemption of soul 
and body together for which Paul longed, and for which " the whole 
creation groaneth and travaileth in pain until now, waiting for the adop- 
tion, to wit, the redemption of our body." Let us not despise our physi- 
cal part, but only look for his perfection, echoing the wish of the apostle, 
" not for that we would be unclothed, but clothed upon." — 2 Cor. v. 4. 

" The judge standeth at the door. We are even now touching on the 
last scene of this awful mystery, and therefore we ought to be looking for 
the immediate appearance of the gifts." 

18. — The! Century Articles. 

In June, 1886, there' appeared in the Centura/ magazine 1 , a lengthy 
article from the pen of Dr. JBuckley, editor of the New Yorh Christian 
Advocate, entitled "Faith-Healing* and Kindred Phenomena." In the 
same magazine, in March, 1887, side by side with the article which forms 
the introduction to this book, appeared a second article by the same 
author. These articles excited a great deal of attention, and were quoted 
far and wide. Yery little space is needed here for their consideration. 
The writer proves that many people are cured by faith in magnetism, 
spiritualism, quack medicines* and appliances, Komanist shrines, "faith- 
cure," etc. He then attempts by induction to establish a common rule 
from all these cases or "phenomena;" and this rule or law is simplyfaith 
— a belief in the thing or power in question. 

I submit to every logical mind that all this is entirely outside the sub- 
ject, and absolutely foreign to the true and only ground for the debate. 
The doctrine of Divine healing has never been and is not now based upon 
any " phenomena" whatever.' Like the doctrine of soul-healing or salva- 
tion, it is not inductive at all, but deductive. It does not start with the 
special or particular and reason to the general ; but begins on the general 
promises of God and deduces therefrom the special application to the 
individual. It will thus be seen at a glance that this objector, so able in 
philosophy, has fallen into the egregious error of totally mistaking the 
kind of argument applicable in the case. 

I answer Dr. Buckley, therefore, by saying that when he steps upon 
the real ground of debate, and writes something truly philosophical, it 
will be time to consider his argument. But as yet he has written nothing 
whatever on the subject of Divine-healing. He has not considered the 
Scriptures for a moment. Yet the Bible is the only foundation upon 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 153 

which we build for a moment, and the overwhelming promises are the 
only materials with which we build. ("As a minister of the Gospel of 
Christ, he ought to know better than to follow the lead of the infidel in 
attacking an avowed Scriptural belief through its abuses and excrescences. 
He ought to know that Kobert Ingersoll argues in that way, but a Christian 
starts always upon the promises of God. , 

19. — "Why Infants Suffer. 

A minister of the Gospel asks this question: "The atonement of 
Christ removes the curse of sin, so that children, who have not come to 
years of accountability, are in a relation to God analogous to that of the 
believer. If the atonement is for the physical curse as well, why are not 
such children saved from sickness % " 

God said, " I the Lord thy God, am a jealous God, visiting the iniquity 
of the fathers upon the children, unto the third and fourth generation of 
them that hate me, but showing mercy unto thousands that love me and 
keep my commandments." The " mystery of iniquity ! " Who can know 
it? ^Entailed depravity and entailed disease are our portion in this 
" estate of sin and misery." But Jesus has offered a full and free salva- 
tion to "whomsoever will." It is true that justification *by faith places 
the believing soul where he was in infancy, guiltless of actual trangres- 
sions, because pardoned, and not held responsible because of the atone- 
ment of Jesus Christ. But the inbred sin remains in the believer's heart 
after full justification, just as it is in the child's heart from birth. The 
fully 1 sanctified soul, however, emerges into a new condition, wherein is 
not found this inbred sin in the soul. The " old man is -crucified with 
Christ," and the "body of sin destroyed," and the believer is no longer a 
" babe in Christ" but a " new man." 

The atonement removes a parent's responsibility for sin in the case of 
infants, but it does not remove the sinful state, or inbred sin, as mani- 
fested in temper, selfishness, etc., even in the youngest child. The root 
is there, and audit will sprout. So it is with disease. Certainly the 
atonement will not prevent a child from inheriting a diseased constitution, 
but it does provide, as in the case of sin, a way of escape through faith, 
when years of accountability are reached. And just as the inbred sin 
manifests itself in the outward temper of the child, so the inbred sickness, 
weakness, or imperfection of constitution, may show itself in outward 
sickness, colic, cramps, indigestion, etc. The child is not intelligently re- 
sponsible for the sickness, as a grown person generally is, just as it is not 
intelligently responsible for the temper. But the temper will come, and 
so will the sickness. One child may inherit a terrible temper, another, a 
terrible disease, or weakness. The two stand on precisely the same plat- 
form, and may be eventually reached through the atonement in precisely 
the same way. 



154 DIVINE HEALING. 

An adult is generally responsible for sickness through neglect of the 
laws of health, extending from early childhood in most people. A cold 
is caught from thoughtless or reckless exposure. Dyspepsia comes from 
smoking, over-eating, rapid eating, or improper food. Diphtheria and 
inflammatory rheumatism are often contracted from drinking impure 
water. But again, parents are very frequently responsible for sickness in 
theinchildren. Christians will probably never fully learn the laws of 
holy procreation, until they reach the experience of full salvation for the 
body, as well as for the soul. A volume might be written on this point, 
but we pass it. Even if a child be naturally healthy, it is often physically 
wrecked by want of care, or too much care ; by stuffing at all hours, and 
hot-house nursing. But in all such cases, we can easily see that sickness 
is the result of sin— the sins of the parents visited upon the children. 
Finally, however, there may exist the same reason for sickness in a child 
as that given by Jesus for the blind man's affliction, in John ix. 3, 
" Neither hath this man sinned, nor his parents, but that the works of 
God should be made manifest in him." The Lord may foresee that 
without, the subduing power of affliction the soul would never be saved ; 
and the " works of God " are manifested in delivering to-day, where faith 
exists, just as much as in the time of Christ's work in the flesh. 

In connection with this point the question arises, what of the pains of 
motherhood % Does the gracious work of Jesus cover this severe physi- 
cal suffering ? " To the law and to the testimony." " And Adam was 
not deceived, but the woman, being deceived, was in the transgression. 
Notwithstanding she shall be saved in child-bearing, if they continue in 
faith, and charity, and holiness, with sobriety." — 1 Tim. ii. 15. The 
word "saved" is precisely the same word as is used in Acts xvi. 31, 
when Paul told the Philippian jailer, " thou shalt be saved," and is used 
in scores of places with a similar meaning. Paul evidently meant that 
the jailer should be saved then and there from his sin : the jailer so be- 
lieved, and was so saved. But Paul says that the mother, on certain con- 
ditions of conduct, shall be saved in child-bearing. What could he mean 
but a full and present salvation ? A mere preservation from death would 
hardly seem to warrant the strength of the assurance, for if a woman 
continue in sound health and strength, there is no need of apprehension. 
But let us look at another point. Paul has just compared the transgression 
of Eve with that of Adam, thus evidently reverting to the sad history of the 
fall. He recalls the fact that the woman was first in sin, and we see rise be- 
fore us the primal curse of the sin upon the guilty pair. God spoke in judg- 
ment upon the serpent, and then in prophetic love of the promised seed, 
who should " bruise " the serpent's head, before one word of reproach or 
direct condemnation was addressed to fallen man. But next, he turned 
to the woman, saying, " I will greatly multiply thy sorrow and thy con- ( 
ception ; in sorrow thou shalt bring forth children ; and thy desire shalli 
be to thy husband, and he shall bear rule over thee," Manifestly re-| 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 155 

calling all this, Paul declares, " Nevertheless she shall be saved." But 
note the conditions, " if she continue in faith, and love, and holiness, with 
sobriety." Christ»was " made a curse for us," and He has made possible 
a complete deliverance from the law of sin and death ; and, therefore, 
he has provided a release from the primal curse, the direct consequence 
of sin. 

This is a high and delicate experience, and therefore ve see set before 
us very high conditions. But the mother who knows the fullness of 
Christ, who is filled with the faith and perfect love of God, and who 
continues in these, nay confidently claim life, by faith in the atonement 
of her Saviour; ana freedom from all excessive sickness and weakness, 
and a safe, natural, and easy delivery. Some cases might be cited in 
experimental proof upon this point, but I prefer to leave it on God's 
word alone. The mass will scout the very idea; the few who fulfill the 
conditions, and who simply believe, will be saved. Praise the Lord ! 

20. — Why Not Instantaneous? 

Before I was healed myself, I had an honest impression that if God 
chose to heal any man in these times, He would do a perfect work, and 
make the thing complete at once. I argued that Jesus Christ healed in 
this way when upon earth, and that there should be no difference now. 
I see very differently to-day, not because my own cure was gradual, but 
because the Lord has opened my eyes. As a matter of fact, there are a 
few cases of healing recorded in the Bible which might be called gradual. * 

1. Miriam. She was smitten with leprosy. Moses prayed, " Heal 
her now, O God, I beseech thee." But the Lord said, " If her father had 
but spit in her face, should she not be ashamed seven days ? Let her be 
shut out from camp seven days, and after that let her be received in 
again." Here we see that God declined to answer the direct letter of the 
prayer, " to heal her now? because, by His law, she required -seven days 
of purification. This is exceedingly significant. Many a Christian comes 
for bodily healing to-day, with a very imperfect idea of »ihe depth and 
breadth of spiritual renunciation and consecration required by the law of 
perfect love. Hence the healing is gradual, that the soul may learn, and 
learning, may be purified through faith by the blood. 

2. In the raising of the Shunamite's son, there were stages which 
make it a gradual case. See 2 Kings iv. 

3. King Hezekiah was healed, during three days. — 2 Kings xx. 5. 

4. Job's boils did not vanish instantly ; at least there is not the slight- 
est indication in the record of such an event. 

* The Lord took a quarter of a century to heal Sarah of barrenness. Sarah was one of 
the doubting kind. She laughed at God's power. But after twenty-five years it was by 
faith that she received strength to bear a son. Heb. xi. 11. This surely was gradual 
enough. 



156 DIVINE SEALING. 

5. When David said, " I shall not die, but live, and declare the works 
of the Lord" — (Psalm cxviii. 17), it would seem that he expected to recover 
from illness, or felt that he was recovering. 

When we come to the miracles of Jesus, it might be argued with per- 
fect fairness that it is entirely possible that many were gradually healed. 
Such statements as " Jesus went about all Galilee . . . healing all 
manner of sickness and all manner of disease among the people " — Matt, 
iv. 23; and " Jesus went about all the cities and villages . . . heal- 
ing every sickness and every disease among the people" — Matt. ix. 35, 
cannot be used to prove that all these cures were instantaneous. On the 
contrary, reasoning from experience, we would be inclined to say that the 
comparatively few cases of healing, specially recorded in the text, were 
the most remarkable ones. Why were they selected out of such multi- 
tudes of instances ? Humanly reasoning there could be only one cause — 
the desire to specialize the most extraordinary. JSTo one, who believes 
only in the general inspiration of the Scriptures, can object to this line of 
argument. I give it for the benefit of such objectors. I cannot say I 
believe it myself. There is, to me, a better reason. Still it has strength, 
for we read that when the whole multitude sought to touch the hem of 
His garment, " as many as touched were made perfectly whole" — Matt, 
xiv. 36. Why did not the Apostle add some such note in either of the 
cases previously cited ? But I do not care for this ; it is contrary to my 
own belief in the original verbal inspiration of God's Word. 

6. In Mark viii. 22-25, we have the case of the blind man whose eyes 
Jesus touched twice before he was fully healed. 

7. John iv. 49-52 gives us a marked case. The nobleman asked for 
life. Jesus said, " Thy son liveth." He did not say he was entirely well ; 
and so the father learned from the servants that he " began to amend " 
at the very time of Jesus' words. This case illustrates the fact that God 
often gives no more than we ask. Modern experience furnishes many 
instances where God has granted wonderful improvement ; whereupon 
the patient has confessed to a lack of faith, or even inclination to ask for 
complete healing. 

8. Jno. ix. 1-7. Here we have a strong case. Jesus laid His divine 
touch upon the blind eyes, but they did not open. " Go wash in the pool 
of Siloam." When this was done, the man " came seeing." There is a 
world of education here for the inquiring soul. When we can give the 
simple testimony of absolute unquestioning obedience," I went, I washed," 
it will not.be long before we will joyfully add, "I see." We can see 
plainly that though the touch of God had been given, the healing was 
delayed until the man had carried out to the letter the commands of 
Jesus. Many would be healed to-day if they would only give up all, or 
do all, or take all that they feel to be required in the Word. JBut the 
pool of Siloam appears unnecessary, or repugnant to the reason or the 
heart, and they will not obey fully. The Spirit whispers, " go wash ; " 



HEALING OF B ODIL Y DISEZSK ±57 

but they rebel. My brother, you must be clean in order to see. " Light is 
sown for the righteous." He who carries a pack upon his back must 
bend over, and sees only the ground. Get rid of your burden of doubts, 
fears, hesitatings, pride ; and you will walk erect in the light of heaven. 

9. Lazarus. It seems to have escaped every one's mind that this friend 
of the Lord's was prayed for while sick, but notwithstanding, he grew 
worse and finally died. " His sisters sent unto him saying, Lord, behold he 
whom thou lovest is sick." — Jno. xi. 3. Oh ! what a prayer that was ! 
It thrills me through and through as I read it. "What simple faith, what 
absolute confidence, what perfect trust in the love of Christ ! " Lord, 
behold he whom thou lovest is sick." Glory to God! Why cannot 
we believe that way ? Has not God filled His Word with declarations 
of his love for me? Do I not read " God so loved the world that He 
gave his only begotten Son, that whosoever believeth in Him should 
not perish but have everlasting life?" Did not Jesus give His life a 
ransom for me ? Did He not first love me ? Has He not promised to 
" withhold no good thing from them that walk uprightly ? " And am I 
not trusting the blood to cleanse me now from all sin ? Does not the 
Spirit witness with my spirit that I am a child of God ? Is He not 
Jehovah Kophi still ? Did not Jesus bear my sicknesses and my sins for 
me ? O, when these things are so, how can I fail, if sickness comes, to 
just go to Jesus and confidently cry " Lord, he whom thou lovest is sick? " 
God always honors child-like faith such as this. 

True they said " Lord, if thou hadst been here my brother had not 
died." Legalist Martha spoke it partly in remonstrance, but Mary in the 
same loving confidence in the loving Jesus. The lesson of the whole 
event is plainly set forth, "This sickness is not unto death, but for the 
glory of God, that the Son of God might be glorified thereby." " And I 
am glad for your sokes that I was not there, to the intent you may 
believe:" Said I not unto thee, that, if thou vjouldest Believe, thou 
shouldest see the glory of God ? " "I knew that thou hearest me always, 
but because of the people which stand by I said it that they may believe 
that thou hast sent me." These verses show that the Lord may withhold 
the visible answer until the time best adapted to glorify His Son. And 
they show that a sick one may recover, after some time, and after many 
prayers, in order that those " which stand by may believe." It does not 
argue anything against being kept from sickness at all. That experience 
belongs to another plane altogether. We are now considering those who 
first seek healing though faith. My heart disease was cured gradually, 
but since that event I have been enabled to praise God for the instan- 
taneous cure of other complaints. Upon one occasion I suffered for two 
days with cold, fever and chill. I prayed constantly, and rested in Jesus 
alone. At last faith seemed to be given for actual grasping of the promise; 
the Word was given me, and suddenly the chill and all sickness left 



158 DIVINE HEALING. 

me. I threw off the thick quilt in which I had been wrapped, and praised 
the Lord for complete deliverance. Glory to His name ! 

10. The case of Epaphroditus, Phil. ii. 26, 27, seems to speak of an 
illness of some duration; yet it was God who " had mercy upon him," and 
raised him up, in answer to Paul's prayers in his behalf. Stockmayer 
says, "would that God's servants who are obliged to suspend their work 
in the Lord's vineyard, whose heads are wearied and nerves overstrained, 
would wait upon the Lord until it becomes clear to them what has not 
been of the Spirit in their work or in their life, until the Lord can fulfill 
(Isa. xl. 31) in them. Would that instead of quitting their posts in dis- 
couragement, they would ' humble themselves under the mighty hand of 
God ; that he might raise them up in due time,' (1 Peter v. 6). 

" These remarks on Isa. xl. do not contradict the fact that the con- 
dition of a child of God on earth remains a condition of weakness. "We 
run our course here below in the midst of the greatest weakness (1 Cor. ii. 3). 
Suffering and privation are our portion ( 2 Cor. vi. 10, xii. 10). The life 
of Jesus will be made manifest in our body only so far as we are always 
bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus ( 2 Cor. iv. 10). 
As long as we are in this tabernacle we do groan, being burdened (2 Cor. 
v. 4 ). We wait for the redemption of our body (Kom. viii. 23), but at 
the same time God must show his strength perfected in our weakness, and 
for this reason must have our members free for his disposal. As surt as 
we walk by faith we become in very deed strong just where we feel our- 
selves weak, and we are able to do all things through Christ which 
strengthened us" (2 Cor. xii. 9, 10; Phil. iv. 13). 

11. Trophimus was certainly a gradual case, as Paul was compelled 
to leave him behind at Miletum. 2 Tim. iv. 20. 

These are surely enough to demonstrate that healing in Bible times 
was not always instantaneous. When Jesus Himself healed, He was 
guided by an infallible judgment and perception. " He knew what was 
in man." The Apostles may have been granted an inspired insight, in many 
cases at any rate. " Seeing he had faith to be healed," testifies to this 
inspiration in one instance at least. (Acts xiv. 9.) But we know that 
Paul sometimes lacked the " mind of the Lord." It is therefore entirely 
possible that he occasionally failed to heal immediately, as he certainly 
did fail in the case of Trophimus. 

We have already seen that there are many reasons for gradual heal- 
ing to-day. All allow that sickness is a discipline. But manifestly the 
disease cannot be removed if the patient refuses to yield to the divine 
purpose. If we are slow in learning the lesson set us, why should we 
wonder at the slow removal of the teacher ? Truly " God speaketh once, 
yea twice, yet man perceiveth it not." Let any one who doubts the need 
of gradual healing, carefully read and ponder upon the thirty-third chap- 
ter of Job. No words of man can make it plainer. " The entrance of 
Thy words giveth light." 



HEALING OF B ODIL Y DISEASE. 159 

Finally, some people say that they know such a Christian, one of the salt 
of the earth, who has prayed and prayed and prayed, yet has not recovered. 
I reply. ISTo one can tell when any man has " touched " Jesus, except 
Christ and the individual soul. No man can see and prove the union, 
the absolute consecration, the simple faith. The Jews doubted the union 
between Jesus and (3rod, and thus brought upon themselves the reproof 
"Ye receive not pur witness." Like Jesus we can " speak the things that 
we do know ; " but they can not be proved any other way. If we " touch 
the hem of his garment," we will know it. Therefore we find three vital 
reasons for an imperfect or a gradual healing. 

1. The absence of the complete "touch." 

2. Imperfect consecration, requiring time for the entrance of the light, 
and the deepening of the work. 

3. Not comprehending, nor apprehending God's plan. " The law is a 
schoolmaster to bring us to Christ," and the Word distinctly teaches, as 
we have seen, that sickness comes from violation of the law. But when 
we come to Jesus, when the conditions are all met, when we touch, we 
are certainly healed. Praise the Lord ! 



CHAPTEK YI. 

Full Salvation. 

" And the very God of peace sanctify you wholly, and I pray God that your whole spirit, 
and soul, and body be preserved blameless unto the coming of our Lord Jesus Christ." — 1 
Thess. v. 23. 

' ' Beloved I wish above all things that thou mayest prosper and be in health, even as thy 
soul prospereth." — 3 John 2. 

' ' We know that whosoever is born of God sinneth not ; but he that is begotten of God 
keepeth himself, and that wicked one toucheth him not." — 1 John v. 18. 

Salvation is a big word. To my apprehension, and in my experi- 
ence it has marvellously expanded during these last five years of com- 
munion with God. It is a perfect word, and represents a perfect work. 
As we have seen, Salvation has four sides. Now the number 4 has 
always had the special significance of perfection, in connection with man- 
kind. The old giant, who owned Hebron, was called Arba ; and Eev. 
Alfred Jones, in his dictionary of Scripture names, tells us that the word 
means "quadrangular," and that he was so called on account of the perfec- 
tion and strength of his form. He also says that the Romans used a 
quadrangular stone as a symbol of wisdom and strength of mind. Dr. 
Milo Mahan, in his " Mystic Numbers," gives it special prominence in 
connection with mankind and the earth. The four quarters of the 
world, the four feet of the highest order of beasts, the four elements, 
four rivers of Paradise, the four gospels, four camps of Israel, the four 



160 DIVINE HEAIIHG. 

square city of the redeemed. It is the figure of the Cosmos in its univer- 
sality and order; the idea being that of a concentrated and orderly, not of 
a vague universality. Prof. Asahel Abbott says, that four always relates 
to man as a spirit immersed in matter. It typifies God in a sensible form, 
revealing himself to the senses of his creatures. Hence the Pythagoreans 
swore their great oath by Four (the Tetractys), " that hath revealed to 
our souls the fountain of ever-flowing nature." Man has a dual nature, 
and each half is itself a duality. We may divide thus : 



Nature. Defects. 

Sottl i Spiritual, - Inbred Sin, or Depravity. 
DOUL. | jj ors ^ . . Committed Sin, or Transgression. 



t> ( Physical, - Sickness, or Disease. 

.body, -j Mental> . . sorrow, or Affliction. 



GQ 



Here we see the comprehensive sweep of the Atonement. Jesus 
Christ died to save men wholly. Strange to say, all Christians allow that 
two out of the four great deficiencies in our nature — the moral and the 
mental — are embraced in the present scope of the Great Sacrifice. A 
large number of Christians are willing to accept a third — the Inbred Sin, 
or depravity ; but the church has almost lost sight of the possibility of 
deliverance from the fourth. Committed sin can be very properly placed 
under the head of the moral law or nature ; and sorrow or affliction is 
manifestly a mental trouble. These, all agree, can be handed over to 
Jesus at the present moment. But just here a vast majority of the church 
stops short, in experience, if not in theory. The wonderful power of the 
Atonement to cleanse from all the Sin which was inherited as an inborn 
taint of corruption, is totally unknown to multitudes who worship God 
in sincerity and truth. One half the Atonement is therefore overlooked, 
slighted, and absolutely discredited by the majority of the Church to-day. 
These halves are not mathematically divided, for which we have reason to 
be devoutly thankful, and in God's mercy, we have held to the primarily 
essential portion of our Saviour's work. Yet the other half exists. 
Thanks to the power of the truth, thousands of witnesses have testified, 
and do testify, to the reality of the death to inbred sin ; and one very 
large branch of the church* emphatically proclaims this item of faith in 
its official utterances, while some others, at least allow it. But few, if 
any, bodies of Christians, since the days of the Waldenses, have included 
faith in Christ for bodily healing in their church creeds. 

Many a Christian, to-day, thinks the four evangelists good enough and 
amply sufficient for his daily reading, and neglects the rest of God's word 
altogether. "Well, he can be saved of course, but will his soul ever grow 
fat ? How Paul prays for the Ephesians, that they " may be able to com- 

* Methodists. 



HEALING OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 161 

Erehend with all saints what is the breadth, and length, ind iepth, and 
eight ; and to know the love of Christ, which passeth knowledge, that 
ye might be filled with all the fullness of GodP — Eph. iii. 18, 19. The 
Church is sadly in need of quadrangular Christians to day. 

Dr. Yincent seems to think it a " huge impertinence " for any one to 
say that unbelief is at the root of the church's failure to grasp a complete 
salvation, (impertinent or not, it is trueT^I remember that unbelief 
seriously hampered the twelve men who absolutely left their earthly all 
and followed Jesus in the flesh. Even when striving to do the Master's 
work, they were prevented by lack of faith. " Lord, why could not we 
cast Jiim out ? Because of your unbelief." Pastor Otto Stockmayer ;ays, 
in " Sickness and the Gospel, ' p. 39 : " Why do we iot take the position 
of redeemed and sanctified which the work of Jesus Christ gives to us ? 
"Why is the discipline of sickness necessary to make us listen to our God, 
and Avalk in his ways in all things and at all times ? Why, even in sick- 
ness, are we so slow to gather the lessons it brings us ? Why has not God 
yet been able to make of us intelligent and powerful fellow-workers ? — It 

is because of our unbelief It did not occur to the Jews in the 

synagogue of Nazareth that, if in the time of Elijah all the widows in 
Israel were not miraculously helped ]ike the one of Sarepta, if in the time 
of Elisha all the lepers of Israel were not cleansed like Naaman, all the 
fault was attributed to their unbelief.* — Luke iv. 25-27. In the same 
way, the Christians of to-day seem to ignore the power of ';he Saviour 
whom God has given them, and the fullness of the salvation which that 
Saviour has procured for them." 

Why is it that even the best Christian people to-day fall so frequently 
below the Bible standards or examples ? W hy is it that so few ministers 
of the Gospel are able to make Paul's language their own? How many 
can say "Thanks be unto God that xlways causeth us to triumph in 
Christ ? " Why is it so few can testify toa vivid personal knowledge of 
the distinct baptism of the Holy Ghost ? V^hy is it that many di the 
most learned doctors of divinity, equipped with every weapon of reason, 
knowledge, wit and oratory, utterly ?ail to lead souls to the Saviour ? Is 
our God dead ? Is the power that attended the work of the apostles, of 
Whitefield, Wesley, Jonathan Edwards, Asbury, and others, an arbitrary 
gift to a few? Is a personal experience Kke that of Paul, Fenelon, Mad- 
ame Guyon or Mrs. Edwards, something absolutely beyond the average 
Christian ? O reader, what is it that bars the way ? What can it be, 
but unbelief ? Paul emphatically enjoined upon the church to '* covet 
earnestly " the miraculous gifts of the Spirit, which he took special pains 
to enumerate. Modern teachers say, do not covet any wuch thing, you 
cannot have them ; it is preposterous for any man in these times to ^alk 

* I remark that when Jesus told them the truth, on this point, they considered it a 'huge 
impertinence," and attempted to take his life. 



162 DIVINE HEALING. 

of a supernatural gift. And then they think it a " huge impertinence " if 
they are accused of unbelief. May the dear Lord lift the veil that is 
wound about so many of His children, when they read the Word. 

Full Salvation. — How my whole being thrills with love and praise 
as I think of the rounded completeness of the finished work of my Jesus ! 
Christ met and conquered every foe known to the human race. Yes, every 
one c Even death suffered defeat at His hands. 

It is not a conjecture which leads Stockmayer to say that " when the 
church has realized the victory over sickness, she will be in a condition to 
pass on to the victory over death. Enoch and Elijah are not remembered 
as they should be. I cannot believe for a moment that these two were 
arbitrarily chosen by Jehovah to exemplify His power. Of course this 
end was accomplished beyond a doubt, butthere is something deeper than 
that. I see in these two saints a glorious proof of the infinite possibili- 
ties open to the child of God. Two men of mortal mould have, by God's 
grace, lived so near to Him, kept His commands so inviolably, been so 
zealous in His work, worshipped Him in such absolute devotion, and 
above all, manifested such transcendent faith, that "the wicked one 
touched them not." Even over death they were triumphant. The fire of 
the Spirit burned so intensely in their souls and bodies, that even the 
mighty prince of darkness could not approach them near enough to cast 
his fatal dart. In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, they passed 
away from earth, to be with the Lord. So the day is coming when, in- 
stead of two, many who "are alive and remain shall be caught up to 
meet the Lord in the air." Will it be solely because an arbitrary date, 
set in the mind of God, has come ? or may we not believe that, when that 
date does arrive, the children of the King will be walking with uplifted 
hearts, really Relieving that their redemption draweth nigh? Five out of 
ten virgins were ready with lamps trimmed and burning when the bride- 
groom came. The Lord grant that the proportion may hold good when 
the glad cry is heard, " Behold the Bridegroom cometh, go ye out to meet 
Him." 

" It is the object of the present dispensation to prepare for the Lord 
Jesus a bride, who is able to understand him, and who will reign with him. 
The Lord desires a people for his own possession, not a people to cringe as 
slaves, but a people who will boldly enter with full purpose of heart, 
mind, and will, into the lines of God's purposes and ways, whenever the 
Holy Ghost opens before them new vistas and possibilities. The late 
Pastor Blumhardt said, 'The promises of God are not self-fulfilling, 
their realization depends upon man. The fulfillment of what God has 

Eromised is always more or less dependent upon man's free will, whether 
e really deserves that which has been promised to him or not.' Yes, the 
Lord seeks a people who will understand him." 

" Furthermore it is a striking sign of our times that positions of prom- 
nence, such as that of an Apostle Paul or even that of a reformer, are 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 163 

more and more rare. The sound of the footsteps of our approaching Master 
more and more rises above every human sound. i Every mountain and 
hill is brought low.' We must be in our own eyes simply vessels and 
instruments, our entire personality, yea even that individuality which 
God has committed to us, and which is precious in the sight of God, must 
first pass through death and resurrection before the Master's image and 
mind can be impressed upon us sufficiently clearly to be recognized by 
those afar off. vVe must die and be raised again before the light commit- 
ted to us can find its way into our brother's heart, and become the com- 
mon property of the body." 

"Through all the outward divisions of the church of Christ, there is 
growing up between its living members a deep and mutual heart intelli- 
gence, there is a bond formed which incloses the different members, 
shielding and upholding them to a degree which Paul in his time did not 
enjoy."* 

Let us " comfort one another with these words." Surely the great 
awakening to the willingness of Jesus to save the body from the powers 
of evil, is another and mighty token that the day of our redemption is at 
hand. Salvation is becoming more and more a positive reality. Religion 
begins again to mean something more than a profound mental apprehen- 
sion of doctrine, and a keen sense of legal distinctions. ■ The grammar of 
experience is being revised, and we see the possibility of living in the 
present tense, the first person, the singular number and the possessive 
case. Abstract nouns and nouns of multitude give place to distinctive 
proper names : the personal pronouns are limited to I and me, and the 
verb is known in its full sense — to be, to do, and to suffer {or experience) 
any tiling and every tiling in Jesus. Let us not " be fools and slow of heart 
to believe all that the prophets [have spoken," but let us, like the noble 
Bereans, "search the Scriptures daily whether these things are so." — Acts 
(xvii. 11, 12). It is wonderfully significant that when they thus searched 
daily, we are told, " Therefore many of them believed." Yery often 
those who cry, " search and look> for out of Galilee ariseth no prophet," 
are, like the Pharisees, totally ignorant of the true meaning of Scripture, 
as well as of the real evidence in the case. 

A short time ago I read of a woman in China, who, after hearing 
of the wonderful Jesus and his work, asked if she could not be healed of 
lameness ; only to be sorrowfully informed by the missionary that the 
" days of miracles have passed./} In* contrast to this, read the following, 
from " China's Millions. " 

" One day when our native helper, Mr. Yao, was preaching in the 
chapel, an old beggar-woman, of over seventy years of age, came to che 
door and listened to what was said about the person and power of the 
Lord Jesus Christ. She returned to her home and told Mrs. Chang, a 

* JStockmayer. 



164 DIVINE HEALING. 

blind neighbor, that which she had heard, and proposed, next day, to lead 
her around to the chapel and ask the teacher if Jesus could open her 
eyes. The old woman, accordingly, appeared at the chapel next day, 
with her blind friend, Mrs. Chang, and told the preacher their object in 
coming. After a long conversation, Mr. Yao told the blind woman 
that if she had faith to be healed it could be done. They accordingly 
kneeled down and prayed that God would have mercy upon them and re- 

fard their prayer. This was repeated next day, and again on Sunday, when 
Ers. Chang's syes were improving. She was beginning to see again. 
By the Sunday following, her sight — of which she had been deprived three 
years — was perfectly restored, and she now wished all to join her in prais- 
ing God for what he had done. Within a fortnight after the day she 
was first led to the chapel and asked to be cured, her eyes were opened 
and she could see as other people. IsTo medicines were used, nor were any 
other means than those of prayer and faith, employed to bring about this 
end. The simple woman believed implicitly that Christ had the same 
power to heal to-day as He had eighteen hundred years ago ; and she 
sought and found in Him what she desired." 

Kow which of the missionaries held up a perfect Saviour ? " Accord- 
ing to your faith be it unto you." David said, " I have set the Lord al- 
ways before me (can we say that ?) because he is at my right hand, I shall 
not be moved. Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth (this 
is the spiritual experience); my flesh also shall rest in hope (dwell confi- 
dently — margin.) Here we have the physical security. Young trans- 
lates this verse, 

" Therefore hath my heart been glad, 
And my honor doth rejoice, 
Also my flesh dwelleth confidently." 

Ps. xvi. 9. 

Perfect submission and consecration to the Lord Jesus will inevitably 
bring about that mysterious union with Him, in which He, with the 
Father and the Spirit, will take up His abode in our souls and bodies. 
Nothing short of this is complete Christianity. Christ must be formed in 
us. The spirit must be in us. We must enter the holiest through the 
veil of His flesh, and abide continually in the very presence of God. . In- 
stead of being appalled at the height of the standard, let us remember 
the infinite promises of an infinite Saviour, and enter into that marvellous 
life of faith wherein, as little children, we believe God without a ques- 
tion, and enjoy the benefits that can only flow through faith. 



HEALING OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 165 

CHAPTEK YIL 

Review and Conclusions. 

"Hear the conclusion of the whole matter." — Eccle. xii. 13. 

"In meekness instructing those that oppose themselves." — 2 Tim. ii. 25. 

"I will speak of Thy testimonies also before kings, and will not be ashamed." — Ps. 
cxix. 46. 

"But when they shall lead you, and deliver you up, take no thought beforehand what 
ye shall speak, neither do ye premeditate : but whatever shall be given you in that hour, 
that speak ye ; for it is not ye that speak, but the Holy Ghost." — Mark xiii. 11. 

yesus Christ came into the world to save sinners; to save them 
now from every sin, from all inbred depravity, from outbreaking sickness 
and from the in working germs of disease. 

f If we sin, it is because of at least temporary unbelief or through 
ignorance ; and if we are sick, the reason is generally similar. It may 
be that the unbelief is manifested in our refusal to see the leadings of 
God's Spirit, but all is best summed up in the one word — unbelief. "Are 
not these evils come upon us because our God is not among us ? " — Deut. 
xxxi. 17. 

Sickness and sin are alike the work of the devil. Neither is ever 
" necessary," in any true sense. God permits Satan to try ns simply be- 
cause we will not listen to His voice, and as an occasional discipline. 
Bodily illness is allowed, therefore, as a corrective, or better, as the task- 
master's lash to make us weary of bondage, and ready to follow the lead- 
ers God sends. In precisely the same way we fall into sin, not because it 
is " necessary to keep us humble," but because our stiff necks will not 
bend> As in the case of Joseph, God brings good out of evil, for the 
smart of our sins leads us to cry unto God, whereupon He delivers us out 
of our distresses. All this tends to open our eyes by degrees to the great 
truth, that salvation is meant for our whole being — body, soul and spirit. 
I hope this conclusion is clear. Sin and sickness may be ased or allowed 
as corrections. They are not necessary, however. ¥e can be free from 
either, or both, as soon as we find Jesus, through faith, as the complete 
Burden-Bearer. If we are falling under either it is not always a sign 
that we are being kept humble, but rather may be that we are not yet 
humble enough to give up everything and believe everything. 

The physical body is not a cage ; it should not be considered an em- 
barrassment at all. On the contrary, the man who says he could be good 
if it were not for his bodily appetites, simply acknowledges that his 
"heart is not right" before God. The heart is the fountain, and if that 

)be purified thoroughly, all the bodily appetites will work normally and 
properly. The body is to be offered to God as a sacrifice, just as much 

\ as the soul. We will never be glorified until our bodies are changed. 

\ Our bodies are, or should be, actual temples of the Holy Ghost, and not 
merely " halls of theology." 



166 DI VINE HEALING. 

Instead of neglecting the most minute laws of health, we are bound 
the more to observe and do all the " statutes." 

The rigid observance of the Biblical bill of fare is absolutely as im- 
perative on us to-day as it ever was on the Hebrews. We need not won- 
der at the prevalence of diphtheria and other blood poisons when every- 
body eats swine's flesh, and other " abominations to the Lord." 

Any one may be healed who is drawn of the Spirit to seek healing. 
The promise is to " any sick among you." At the same time there is a 
" sin unto death." In this case, however, it is about certain that true 
faith will be sensibly wanting. This "sin unto death" may be fully 
pardoned, and consist with a deep spiritual experience of God's love, 
as in the case of Moses. 

The "means" of healing laid down in James, present a perfect way. 
"We must consecrate all to Jesus, relinquish everything contrary to His 
will, and be absolutely ready to be, to do, or to suffer all things for 
Him. 

Physicians are mercifully provided in general for those who cannot 
trust God alone. E~o one can thus trust to God who knowingly withholds 
anything, however slight. Medicines, of course, cannot share God's 
glory. They stand upon precisely the same ground with the physicians, 
and serve to demonstrate the abounding love of God to an unbelieving 
world. 

The whole tenor of Scripture is to the effect that God is the Healer of 
sickness as well as of sin. Under the old dispensations this was abun- 
dantly and repeatedly set forth, even to the extent of a special direction 
for an " atonement " offering in the case of many diseases. Under the 
new dispensation, this feature of physical healing was most particularly 
emphasized, in word and deed ; and we have the special assurance that 
Jesus came to fulfill the law and not to destroy it. 

The Scriptures for the vicarious Atonement for sin are no more ex- 
plicit than those for sickness ; the same words or phrases being used for 
both. Jesus is positively said to have borne our sins and our diseases ; 
and this statement is abundantly exemplified and expounded, as we have 
seen. 

We must exercise sanctified common sense and not fly to the extreme 
of expecting God to enable us to bid defiance to the laws of health, unless 
most unmistakably led of the Spirit to do so temporarily. Such leading 
is rare. 

The devil is a beaten foe, and does not know half as much as we have 
supposed. He is not God, and cannot tell the future. Nevertheless he 
must not be despised, but ever regarded as an enemy whom only Jesus 
can overcome. 

Close communion with God develops the faculty of receiving actual 
life for soul and body, an inspiration or in-breathing of the lie of Jesus. 
And this life becomes a " well of water springing up into everlastkig life." 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 167 

Jesus started His church with a double charter which has never been 
revoked. \ Preach the gospel and heal the sick." The Apostles set the 
example of asking for "signs and wonders" to attend their work; and 
Paul distinctly enjoins the church to " covet " these miraculous gifts 
" earnestly," while James plainly directs their use in the healing of " any 
sick." 

Sickness may be sometimes a means of grace. So may trials arise 
from others' sins. Indeed " thine own wickedness shall correct thee." 
(Jer. ii. 19). Obviously then this does not make sickness a good thing. 

The " body is for the Lord," and is not a worthless lump of clay. If a 
human body was good enough for the Son of God, we ought not to com- 
plain of ours. 

All sickness was and is included under the " curse of the law." This 
is again and again declared in Scripture. But " Christ hath redeemed us 
from the curse of the law, being made a curse for us" Either this declar- 
ation is false, or Jesus bore my disease for me, just as he bore my sins. 
If I am compelled to bear them also, then His work was incomplete. But 
He declared, with his dying breath, " It is finished." 

The miracles of Jesus were not merely to prove His divinity, but were 
the natural outflow of that divinity, when brought into close contact with 
suffering humanity ; and their continuance testifies to the Headship of 
the risen Saviour in His connection with the Church. 

He who " touches " Jesus, always receives life. Satan could not inflict 
sickness upon Job till God gave His permission ; and this permission was 
given solely to lead Job to a deeper death of self. As soon as the lesson 
was learned, the sickness was taken away. So we can be sure that God 
will not allow Satan to whip us after we have apprehended and received 
the intended instruction. " Before I was afflicted I went astray, but 
now have I kept thy word." — Ps. cxix. 67. 

The body, which gives us so much trouble, is not the body of flesh, 
but the " body of sin." When this is crucified we can live the resurrec- 
tion life in Christ, and the body of flesh will be in perfect accord with the 
divine will. 

(The dietary laws of Moses are for our good to-day, just as much as 
they were for the Jews. He who thinks he can slight the stomach, as of 
small account, opens a thousand doors to disease and suffering. 

The devil kills a great many good people long " before their time." 

Evil is always ready to come. God " sends " it by simply withdraw- 
ing the hedge he sets about us. 

Healing may be instantaneous, but is more likely to be gradual, 
because of the imperfect consecration and faith in so many patients. 
Gradual restoration gives the opportunity for education. 

A sin which has caused sickness is necessarily forgiven when the dis- 
ease is removed. This James specially declares, v. 15. 

There is no more necessity for us to be sick than to sin. If then we 



168 DIVINE HEALING. 

are wholly the Lord's, and rest in His Word, we may enjoy health of 
body and of soul. This requires the closest attention to the voice of God. 
We must not dare to slight the least of His commands. There are no 
little things in the life of faith. And we must give God the glory. 

We may be tempted with sickness, just as we are tempted with sin. 
By faith in Jesus one may be resisted just as well as the other. The temp- 
tation will then be useful, and we may " count it all joy." Paul's " vile 
body " was simply his body in a " low. estate," — not yet glorified. 

Trophimus was undoubtedly healed, but not until he was separated 
from Paul, according to the divine purpose. 

Paul's thorn in the flesh, if a sickness, was certainly from the devil. 
It did not hinder his work, and there can be no doubt it was removed by 
the power of God alone. This thing was allowed as a precautionary 
measure, to teach him the deepest humility, and of course was removed 
when the lesson was learned. 

Spiritual blessings invariably precede or accompany bodily healing. 
Faith is always the vehicle for God's bounty. 

^Chastening" requires the presence of Satan. There are no tears in 
heaven, no " chastening," no trials. Sickness, death and sin are always 
unrelenting enemies, and emanate from the devil. 

Divine-healing does not affect the necessity of dying, provided our 
time arrives before the Bridegroom cometh. We are not, however, to 
look for death as a friend, but earnestly "hasten the coming of the 
Lord," keeping the glorious possibility of translation constantly before 
our eyes. ^ 

Apostolic gifts cease only from lack of apostolic faith. \ 

"The days of miracles have not passed. On the contrary we may ex- 
pect greater wonders than the world has ever seen, for such is the express 
declaration of the Word. The day of the Lord hasteth greatly, and the 
miracles preceding and attending His second advent will be more remark- 
ble than anything ever recorded in the past. The supernatural always 
slumbers when faith lies sleeping, or dead. 

The only "means" needed for the sick, are the Scriptural ones of 
" laying on of hands, anointing with oil," and " the prayer of faith." 
The Bible never advises us to trust in any one or anything but in God. 
He who would know God's power must walk humbly in God's pathway. 

Those who reject God's ways are influenced by ignorance, or by the 
idea that they are wiser than the written Word ; by pride, or by unbelief. 
Like the Jews they become very angry when told the plain truth con- 
cerning themselves. 

There is not the faintest hint in Scripture that oil was commanded or 
used as a medicine, rather than as a symbol. We have abundant testi- 
mony to the existence of thousands of remedies at the beginning of the 
Christian era. 

The "Elders of the Church" are God made Elders, and not merely or- 



HEALING OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 169 

darned of man. Before proceeding in any special work for God, we should 
be very sure that we are called of the Spirit, and that we are in no 
way influenced by personal ambition. 

There is no doubt of the existence of " gifts of healing " in the church 
to-day. These gifts never were exercised at the discretion of the possessor, 
nor ever used for the mere purpose of proving anything for the benefit of 
unbelievers of any grade. 

The foundation of the doctrine of faith-healing is the "Word of God, 
and not visible results. Apparent failures count for nothing. " Heaven 
and earth shall pass away, but my word shall never pass away." 

The devil is the sole author of the notion that he cannot now "possess" 
men's bodies, as in former times. He is very anxious to have men think 
lightly of him. Despising an enemy gives him a great advantage. That 
was how David came to kill Goliath. 

Paul's experience with his thorn, like Job's sickness, is not an excep- 
tion, but a representative case. Both are paralleled constantly in indi- 
vidual cases to-day. 

God always honors faith, even if it be clouded and enveloped in igno- 
rance. It is " according to thy faith," not according to the faith of Moses 
or the apostles. Each man's faith is his own, and no matter how ignorant, 
if he trusts God, God saves him. See the case of Kabab and that of 
Naaman. 

We can glorify God in sickness by showing His wonderful power to 
sustain ; but we can glorify Him better by giving an opportunity for His 
delivering power. Jesus came to preach " deliverance to the captives" 
not exactly to feed them in prison. A long continued affliction may indi- 
cate an obstinate refusal to follow Jesus entirely. 

It is just as possible to refuse the passage of Jordan for sickness, and 
to be turned back to struggle with disease and to die in the wilderness of 
affliction, as this experience is possible in spiritual matters. 

We must walk in the fire in this world, but if Jesus walks with us, 
the smell of fire need not pass upon us. 

God's rod is a rod of power and deliverance, as well as of destroying 
might. There is a law of life, as well as a law of death. When we talk 
of the law, we should remember the life side as well as the other. God 
condemns according to one, and saves by the other. 

(Let people who believe it is God's will that they shall be sick, prove 
their belief by relinquishing all efforts to get well ; give up their medi- 
cines and save the money spent on physicians.^ 

The way to find God's will is to read His Word, in the Spirit of Paul, 
" believing all things which are written in the law and the prophets." — 
Acts xxiv. 14. 

tThe petition " Thy will be done," can only be perfectly offered by one 
whose«spirit, soul and body have been placed absolutely in Jesus' hancte. \ 

" Signs " never have followed, and never can follow those who do 



170 DIVINE HEALING. 

not believe in the " signs. " They follow those who, like the apostles, 
pray for God's miraculous power, and heartily believe it will be mani- 
fested. 

The evidences of miraculous power always multiply when faith 
becomes concentrated, simple and_absolute. 

God may use an infinite variety of agents or laws for the recovery of 
the sick. He may use the patients' imagination or anything else. The 
only question is, who produced the effect \ If God did it He should have 
the glory. 

A miracle is not a violation of natural law, but the superposition of 
another law. God's laws are never violated ; they cannot be. It is a 
natural law that anything material will be attracted towards the earth. 
An inflated baloon, however, leaves the earth, but not in violation of 
gravitation. On the contrary it is because of gravitation drawing down 
the heavier air all around the balloon. The balloon is attracted, according 
to law ; but another law steps in, and through their combination a very 
different effect is produced. 

(The proper definition of a miracle is, anything which transcends 
human power. \ It would be just as great a miracle for a man to jump 
one hundred feet as one million miles, because both are absolutely im- 
possible to man. /All the talk about a miracle being a reversal of some 
great natural law is fundamentally absurd. There is every reason to believe 
that natural laws are never reversed, but only modified through combina- 
tions with other laws. The idea that a miracle consists in the performance 
of inherent impossibilities is most absurd of all. God is the perfection 
of harmony and equity. Two and two, added together, give four. This 
is truth ; and as God, who changes not, is, or holds the essence of truth, 
we simply testify to this attribute when we say no miracle can or will 
ever change this numerical relation. Thoughtful men need to open their 
eyes to this fact. God answers prayer through the operations of law. 
Indeed He has established the law of prayer ; " If we ask : any- 
thing according to his will, he heareth us. " If He heals the sick, it is 
through and according to law. If He opens a pathway through the 
sea it is by the operation of law. (Ex. xix. 21). If mighty changes are made 
in the topography of a continent, such as those prophesied in Zech. xiv. 4, 
it will be according to law. A few years, ago a mountain split in two 
in far distant Alaska ; and a dozen mountains rose out of the waters of 
of the straits of Sunda. Wherein will the dividing of the Mount of 
Olives be more distinctly miraculous than these ? We cannot tell how the 
bones of a child are formed, nor how the acorn expands into the oak ; 
but we know both, are facts. So far as we are concerned they are just as 
miraculous as the instantaneous restoration of the withered arm. 

Why should we undertake to make time the test of the miraculous, 
when the Actor is He with whom " a day is as a thousand years, and 
a thousand years as one day ?" 

n/ 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE 171 

The only foundation for Divine healing is in the written Word ; not 
in cases or "phenomena." There are always abuses of every good 
thing. 

We must not be discouraged if the answer appears to be delayed, but 
diligently seek for possible hinderances in ourselves. u Though it tarry, 
wait for it, for it will surely come. " Healing in Scripture avas not al- 
ways instantaneous. It is,* moreover, extremely probable, that the most 
remarkable cases were narrated in detail. 

We may be gradually healed because of imperfect faith, incomplete 
consecration, or heedlessness of the Spirit's leadings. 

The church is sadly in need of Quadrangular Christians : those who 
have found out that Salvation has four sides — committed sin, inbred sin, 
mental trouble and bodily sickness. 

The church, like the apostles, can not cast out devils or perform other 
wonderful works, because of unbelief. The average Christian misses the 
rounded experience of the saints solely through unbelief. He will not 
believe it to be his duty to at once consecrate everything to God ; or he 
will not believe God's promises to be in the present tense. 

The way to " hasten the coming of the Lord, '' is to really believe He 
is coming, and to act accordingly. The day is drawing near when faith 
will be necessary to a part in the first resurrection. 

( Even translation will be through and according to the law of faith. 

He that believes that Jesus is not coming, however devout he may be, 
will surely be left behind. The wise virgins were those who watched. 
Watching means t expecting. 

If the world is to be converted, apostolic faith and power are needed. 

When Satan says " The day of miracles has passed" he means to insin- 
uate that God is dead. He chuckles prodigiously over any departure 
from a supernatural faith in a supernatural God, ever present and 
ready to literally perform His promises. 

Holiness is undoubtedly much more important than bodily healing; but 
we should never forget that the " day of our redemption " will never 
come till each " spirit, soul, and body" is " sanctified wholly" from every 
touch of evil. 

Beloved, let us not be left behind for want of asking. Let us pray 
for grace, for faith, for power, for love, for fire, and even for the miracu- 
lous manifestations of a miraculous Saviour, that we may " speak the 
word with all boldness," and that men, especially Christians, may be .con- 
vinced that our " glorious Lord " is not chained by His own decrees, nor 
disposed to alter the meaning of His own language. 

Finally ; I am " preaching peace by Jesus Christ^— (Acts x. 36.) Peace 
from all sin. Not a rest from conflict, but a rest from^defeat. Peace from 
all sickness, yes, peace from all inward taint of evil. " Preaching peace b}^ 
Jesus Christ." What a glorious Saviour we have ! What a perfect sal- 
vation ! How transcendent His glory ! how deep His mercy ! how un- 



172 DIVINE EEAIING. 

searchable His love ! How free is His grace ! how boundless His compas- 
sion ! how inexhaustible His resources ! how enduring his promises ! 
"The eternal God is thy refuge., and underneath are the everlasting 
arms." — (Deut. xxxiii. 27.) How strong are those arms ! How mighty 
is His power ! Jesus paid it all, all the debt I owe ; then why should I 
be striving to pay a portion of it over again ? I fly to the mighty Jesus ; 
to Him who has " all power in heaven and earth," and I find " perfect 
peace " when my "mind is stayed " upon Him alone. I do not find this 

feace perfect when I " put confidence in men" for a portion of my safety, 
want Jesus to have all the glory, and so I trust the "everlasting arms" 
to hold me without tying myself up by means of man's devising. Thus 
I have peace. And oh ! such peace ! How profound ; how unfathom- 
able ! " Preaching peace by Jesus Christ." Praise the Lord for what 
follows. Peter adds, " He is Lord of all." Yes, I am determined He 
shall be the Lord of all. " That word, I. say, ye know, which was pub- 
lished throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism 
which John preached ; How God anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the 
^.Holy Ghost and with power / who went about doing good, and healing all 
that were oppressed of the devil; for God was with him. And we are 
witnesses of all things which he didP 

This is the kind of peace I preach. Peace that brings freedom from 
the touch of the devil. How glorious it is to know Jesus as a perfect 
Saviour in the present tense ! " My soul doth magnify the Lord " (Luke 
i. 46) for all His benefits toward me. " He hath given me rest round 
about." " He loved my soul from the pit of corruption." — (Isa. xxxviii. 
17, margin). " God is the Lord which hath showed us light." — Ps. cxviii. 
27. " Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in 
heart."— -Ps. xcvii. 11. "For the Lord God is a sun and shield; the 
Lord will give grace and glory ; no good thing will He withhold from 
them that walk uprightly." — Ps. lxxiii. 23. " I will go in the strength of 
the Lord."— Ps. lxxi. 16. " Let God be magnified."— Ps. lxx. 4. "The 
God of Israel is He that giveth strength and power unto His people." 
" Unto God the Lord belong the issues from death."— Ps. lxviii. 35, 20. " O 
bless our God which holdeth our soul in life." — Ps. lxvi. 9. " O Thou 
that hearest prayer, unto Thee shall all flesh come." — Ps. lxv. 2. " I will 
cry unto God most high ; unto God who performeth all things for me." — 
Ps. lvii. 2. "It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in 
man." — Ps. cxviii. 8. " Thy God hath commanded thy strength." — Ps. 
lxviii. 28. " Call upon me in the day of trouble ; I will deliver thee, and 
thou shalt glorify me." — Ps. 1. 15. " I will praise Thee forever, because 
Thou hast done it." — Ps. lii. 9. "Come and hear, all ye that fear God, 
and I will declare what He hath done for my soul." — Ps. lxvi. 16. " For 
this God is our God forever and ever ; He will be our guide even unto 
death." — Ps. xlviii. 14. " O clap your hands all ye people ; shout unto 
God with the voice of triumph." — Ps. xlvii. 1. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 173 

Oh, this peace ! how it deepens and broadens and flows ! — Isa. xlviii. 
18, and xxvi. 3, and lxvi. 12 ; rs. cxix. 165 ; John xiv. 27. 

"MY PEACE." 



When Peace like a river flows over my soul, 

Away, to the darkness infernal, 
My troubles, my cares, and infirmities roll; 

I bathe in the waters eternal. 

I drink from the river of life, as it flows 

Straight down from the city resplendent; 
The Peace of my soul toward infinitude grows, 

My joy is supreme and transcendent. 

"O not as the world giveth, give I to thee;" 

My Jesus, the only Peace-Giver, 
Thy Spirit alone bringeth sweet liberty; 

"My Peace" floweth on like a river. 

"My Peace," — what a token of infinite Love, 

My deepest devotion commanding; 
Unchanging, and pure, gracious Heavenly Dove, 

"My Peace" passeth all understanding. 

"My Peace" like a river flows over my soul, 

No shadow my path is o'er-casting; 
But billows of light in omnipotence roll, 

I joy in the life everlasting. 

My mind, ever stayed, dearest Lord, upon Thee, 

Beside the still waters I'm growing; 
I'm trusting, rejoicing, restful, and free, 

"My Peace" like a river is flowing. 

" Glory to God in the highest, and on earth, peace, good will to men." 
— Luke ii. 14. " His name shall be called "Wonderful, Counsellor, The 
Mighty God, The Everlasting Father, The Prince of Peace." — Isa. ix. 6. 
" Beloved now are we the sons of God." Let us claim our heritage, for 
our Father saith " all that I have is thine." Let us be Quadrangular 
Christians. 

"Let Everything that Hath Breath Praise the Lord." 



174 DIVINE HEALING. 

APPENDIX A. 

John Wesley on Divine Healing. 

" Is any among you sick let him call for the elders of the church, and 
let them pray over him, having anointed him with oil in the name of the 
Lord ; and the prayer of faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall raise 
him up, and if he have committed sins they shall be forgiven him." 
James v. 14, 15. 

" This single conspicuous gift, which Christ committed to his apostles 
(Mark vi. 13) remained in the church long after the miraculous gifts 
were withdrawn. Indeed, it seems to have been designed to remain 
always, and St. James directs the eld ers > who were the most, if not the 
only gifted men, to administer it. (This was the whole process of physic 
in the Christian church till it was lost through unbelief. That novel 
invention among the Komanists, practiced not for cure, but where life is 
despaired of, bears no resemblance to this. 

" And the prayer of faith shall save the sick. From his sickness ; and 
if any sin be the occasion of his sickness, it shall be forgiven him." — 
Wesley's Notes on New Testament. 

"Sunday, May 10, 1741. — But at our love feast which followed, besides 
the pain in my back and head, and the fever which still continued upon 
me, just as I began to pray,' I was seized with such a cough that I could 
hardly speak. At the same time came strongly into my mind — ' these 
signs shall follow them that believe.' I called on Jesus, aloud, ' to increase 
my faith' and to ' confirm the word of his grace.' While I was speaking 
my pain vanished away, the fever left me, my bodily strength returned, 
and for many weeks I felt neither weakness nor pain. 'LTnto Thee O 
Lord, do I give thanks.' " — Wesley's Journal, Yol. I. p. 210. 

" Wednesday, November 12, 1746. — In the evening at the chapel my teeth 
pained me very much. In coming home Mr. Spear gave mean account 
of the rupture he had had for some years ; which, after the most eminent 
physicians had declared it incurable, was perfectly cured in a moment. I 
prayed with submission to the will of God. My pain ceased and returned 
no more." — Journal, Yol. I. p. 382. 

" Tuesday, April 6, 1756. — One was informing me of an eminent 
instance of the power of faith. ' Many years ago,' said she, ' I fell and 
sprained my ankle so that I never expected it would be quite well. Seven 
years since, last September, I was coming home from the preaching on a 
very dark night, and stumbling over a piece of wood, fell with the whole 
weight of my body upon my lame foot. I thought, ' O, I shall not be 
able to hear thy word again for many weeks.' Immediately a voice went 
through my heart, ' Name the name of Jesus, and thou shalt stand.' I 
leaped up and stretched out my foot and said, i Lord Jesus Christ, I name 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 175 

thy name ; let me stand.' And my pain ceased and I stood up, and my 
foot was as strong as ever." — Journal, Yol. I. p. 599, 600. 

" Monday, May 2, 1757. — An account of a widely different nature, 1 
received about this time, from Ireland: — Thomas B., about three miles 
from Tyrrel's Pass, was at the point of death from a violent rupture; 
while they were praying for him in the societies, he was at once restored 
to perfect health." — Journal, Yol. I. p. 630. 

In the second volume of his Journal, on Saturday, December 27, 1761, 
he records the case of Mary Speciah, who was at once healed of several 
tumors in the breast, in answer to prayer. Upon this case Mr. Wesley 
makes the following comment: — 

"Now here are plain facts: 1. She was ill. 2. She is well. 3. She 
became so in a moment. Which of these can with modesty be denied ? " 

On Sunday, May 17, 1772, he writes: — 

"Dr. Hamilton brought with him Dr. Munroe and Dr. Gregory. 
They satisfied me what my disorder was, and told me there was but one 
method of cure. Perhaps but one natural one ; but I think that God has 
more than one method of healing either the soul or the body." — Journal, 
Yol. II. p. 373. 

" Friday, July 26, 1772. — The next day I read over Mr. Eilse's ingen- 
ious ' Treaties on the Hydrocele.' He supposes the best cure is by a seton 
or caustic, but I am not inclined to try either of them. I know a Physi- 
cian that has a shorter cure than either one or the other." — Journal, Yol. 
II. p. 381. 

" Wednesday, May 24, 1782. — Mr. Floyd lay in a high fever, almost 
dead for want of sleep. This was prevented by the pain in one of his 
feet, which was much swelled, and so sore it could not be touched. We 
joined in prayer that God would fulfill his Word and give his beloved 
sleep. Presently the swelling, the soreness, the pain, were gone, and he 
had a good night's rest." — Journal, Yol. II. p. 559. 

On Thursday, October 15, 1787, he records the case of Mr. Kingsford, 
who was healed in answer to prayer of a malady of many years, continu 
ance. 

On Thursday, October 7, 1790, he narrates the case of Mrs. Jones, 
who, after having been confined to her bed for two months with a most 
severe case of Prolapsus uteri, helpless and hopeless, was immediately cured 
upon commending her case to the Lord, and adds, " I think our Lord never 
wrought a plainer miracle, even in the days of his flesh." 

" I was desired to visit one who was eminently pious, but had now 
been confined to her bed for several months, and was utterly unable to 
raise herself up. She desired us to pray that the chain might be broken. 
A few of us prayed in faith. Presently she rose up, dressed herself, came 
down stairs, and I believe had no further complaint." 

" My old disorder returned as violent as ever. A thought came into 
my mind, ' Why do I not apply to God in the beginning, rather than in 



176 DIVINE HEALING. 

the end of my iliness % ' I did so and found immediate relief, so that I 
needed no further medicine." 

" My horse was exceeding lame, and my head ached more than it had 
done for some months. (What I here aver is the naked fact. Let every 
man account for it as he sees good.) I then thought, 'Cannot God heal 
either man or beast by any means or without any? ' Immediately my 
weariness and headache ceased, and my horse's lameness in the same in- 
stant ; nor did he halt any more either that day or the next. A very odd 
accident this also." 

"When I came home they told me the physician said he did not ex- 
pect Mr. Myrick would live till morning. I went to him, but his pulse 
was gone. He had been speechless and senseless for some time. A few 
of us immediately joined in prayer. (I relate the naked fact.) Before 
we had done, his sense and speech returned. Now, he that will account 
for this by natural causes, has my free leave ; but I choose to say, This 
is the power of God." 

Sunday, July 1, 1759. — " While the society was gathering, I went to 
a young woman, who was some days since struck with what they called 
madness ; and so it was, but a diabolical madness, as plainly appeared 
from numerous circumstances : however, after we had been at prayer, she 
fell asleep, and never raged or blasphemed after." 

Monday, July 2. — I rode to Durham, and went at once to the meadow 
by the river side, where I preached two years ago. The congregation 
was now larger by one-half ; but the sun was so scorching hot upon my 
head, that I was scarce able to speak. I paused a little, and desired 
that God would provide us a covering, if it was for his glory. In a 
moment it was done ; a cloud covered the sun, which troubled us no 
more. Ought voluntary humility to conceal these palpable proofs, that 
God still answereth prayer % " — Vol. IV. p. 31. 

Tuesday, July 17. — " I had been very ill the preceding week: where- 
fore last night I had recourse to God in prayer ; and this morning, 
instead of rising with difficulty at eight or nine, as I had usually done, I 
rose with ease at five ; and instead of losing my strength in a mile or two, 
I walked eighteen without weakness or weariness." — Yol. IY. p. 37. 

Wed., July 18. — "The work of God, however, quickly began among 
them that were serious ; while not a few endeavored to make sport, by 
mimicking gestures of them that were wounded. . . . However, in 
a while many of the scoffers were weary and went away, the rest con- 
tinued as insensible as before. I had long been walking round the mul- 
titude, feeling a Jealousy for my God ; and praying Him to make the place 
of His feet glorious. My patience at last began to fail, and I prayed, ' O 
King of glory, break some them in pieces, but let it be to the saving of 
their souls !' I had but just spoke, when I heard a dreadful noise on the 
farther side of the congregation; and, turning thither, saw Thomas Skinner 
coming forward, the most horrible human figure I ever saw. His large 



HEALING OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 177 

wig and hair were coal black ; his face distorted beyond all description ; 
he roared incessantly, throwing and clapping his hands together with his 
whole force. Several were terrified, and hasted out of his way. I was 
glad to hear him, after a while, pray aloud. JSTot a few of the triflers 

frew serious, while his kindred and acquaintances were very unwilling to 
elieve even their own eyes and ears. They would have got him away, 
but he fell to the earth, crying, ' My burden ! * My burden ! I cannot bear 
it ! ' . . . His agonies lasted some hours ; then his body and soul 
were eased." Vol. fv. p. 38. 

Sat, Jan. 30. — "Walking between one and two in the morning I 
observed a bright light shine upon the chapel. I easily concluded there 
was a fire near ; probably in the adjoining timber yard. If so ' I knew it 
would soon lay us in ashes. I first called all the family to prayer, then 
going out, we found the fire about a hundred yards off, and had broke out 
while the wind was in the south. But a sailor cried out ' H'vast ! ' H'vast ! ' 
the wind is turned in a moment ! " So it did, to the west, while we were 
at prayer, and so drove the flames from us. "We then thankfully returned, 
and I rested well the residue of the night. 1 ' Yol. IV. p. 537. 



APPENDIX B. 

The Case of Mrs. Rebecca S. Fkavel. 

Only the merest outline of this case can be given here. Liquor was 
the cause of the trouble. Sometime in 1875 this lady was attacked because 
she would not deny her religious convictions, and most horribly injured. 
She was choked into insensibility, her back broken, the bones of the legs 
broken, the right hip and right shoulder dislocated, and her whole body 
covered with terrible bruises. In this condition, when the merest spark 
of life remained, after being examined by several physicians who refused 
to attempt to do anything for her, she was raised up by the power of God 
alone, and walked, besides using her right hand in signing her name, 
within twenty-four hours after the injuries were inflicted. Many of her 
friends and acquaintances, near Cincinnati, Ohio, were and are familiar with 
these facts, and medical testimony was given under oath concerning her 
injured condition. I am personally acquainted with the lady, and have 
had the privilege of meeting with several of her intimate friends. The 
evidence in the case is full, clear and voluminous, and no hasty sketch like 
this can begin to give any idea of the wonderful and continued manifesta- 
tions of God's hand in her experience. 



178 DIVINE HEALING. 

APPENDIX C. 

Theosophy aitd Esoteric Eeligions. 

,_ The educated world is filled with strange doctrines and writings. The 
past is being resurrected in a way that would have appeared incredible a 
few years ago. If any man had appeared as a prophet at the close of the 
civil war, and predicted that in less than twenty years thousands of edu- 
cated men and women in the United States, England, the Continent and 
in India, would be positive outspoken advocates of Buddhism, that they 
would teach and believe that man's soul passes through an infinity of in- 
carnations or transmigrations, and that by becoming an " adept " 
through fasting, absolute continence (" forbidding to marry "), and the 
refusal to eat any animal food (" commanding to abstain from meats," 
1 Tim. ii.) a man may be able to recover the recollection of his previous 
incarnations — that they would talk of "astral spirits" and " compel their 
souls" to go to any part of the universe at will, a la mesmeric mediums — 
that they would sink the Eternal Son of God to a level with a vast crowd 
of " Christ's," or those who have in any age " suffered for humanity," — that 
they would deny utterly the vicarious atonement and scoff at the blood, 
prating of a general state of " at-one-ment," with the supreme powers of 
the universe stained by discipline and the " knowledge of the truth ;" not 
obtained as a " free gift,"— that they would proclaim to the world that 
the Bible is a very limited record of truth, and that the real custodians of 
the "higher mysteries" have been, not the Prophets, not the Apostles, 
not Jesus Christ, but the disciples and priests of Buddha, and especially a 
certain set of mystics avowed to be secluded in the mountains of Thibet, 
and only to be found and approached by an initiate, — that they would 
revive and rehash the " philosophies " of the Bosicrucians, the Fire- wor- 
shippers, the Stoics, the Gnostics, and other ancient errors, mixing in a 
liberal supply of the Canaanitish worship of the " host of heaven r ' (always 
in Scripture referring to the demons or "gods") — that they would prate of 
" spiritual affinities," between men and women, write and talk of the 
exaltation of woman, the advent of a " Female Messiah," — the " Second 
Eve," who is to save the world, — that they would darkly whisper of a 
strange form of "spiritual t adultery," of the possibility, for women at least 
and perhaps for some men^of enjoying a sexual gratification with unseen 
beings, thus reviving the frightful sins of Canaan when we read of women 
who were "the mistress of" a demon" (1 Sam. xxviii, 7 Hebrew), and yet 
teaching this horrible depravity under the guise of a mystical interpreta- 
tion of Solomon's Song, — that they would start publication houses under 
the name of " Culture," and issue books professing to be the depositories 
of all " vvath. " as preserved by the " mystics," — that " esoteric " religion 
would be held up as vastly superior to the simple religion of the cross. 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 179 

intelligible to a child as well as a scholar, — that they would fill the peri- 
odicals of the day with articles and advertisements of the new-old relig- 
ion, — that they would openly publish and commend the theory and prac- 
tice of the "occult arts," — that they — but merciful and long-suffering 
God! can'st tnou endure much longer? 

If, I say such a prophet had appeared twenty years ago, who would 
have believed him \ Indeed who can credit the statement that these awful 
things are now received and taught by multitudes all over Christendom ? 
nevertheless, it is trice. 

For years I have seen a rising tide of this filth of perdition, sweeping 
up and around our people, and bearing many, many Christians away upon 
its deceitful flood. Understand that all these works and books begin 
with accepted truth, and thus win assent : but soon the poison appears, 
skilfully interwoven with truth, until at last the mask is dropped entirely. 
The anonymous authors of " The Perfect "Way, or The Finding of Christ" 
do not tell the reader in the first chapter that " Jesus Christ could never 
hcuve been but for Buddha, " but they write it down plainly enough after 
two nundred .pages of arch seduction unrivalled since the " days of Noah/' 

The "Mmd Cure, and Christian Science, do not teach at first that 
by Jesus' death comes no virtue • but they teach it plainly enough at 
last, and m their monthly journals scoff and sneer at the idea of God 
u getting His fill of plenty of blood." 

Oahspe, or the IN ew Bible The Book of Life by Sidartha ; The Per- 
fect Way or The Finding of Christ : Esoteric Buddhism ; The Esoteric 
Magazine* Occultism and the Mystic Arts; Theosophy by Madame 
BlavatSky . The Christian Science Magazine ; these, and many other pub- 
lications, swarm all around us. The bottomless pit is open and the entire 
brood of hell seems determined to sweep out upon the human race. 
Every one of these works without exception, no matter how high sound- 
ing may be its opening passages, carries a sting in its tail — (Eev. ix. 10). 
Every one without exception makes war upon the fundamental truths of 
our holy religion — the Blood of Jesus Christ, the atoning sacrifice for 
sin. Every one of these, without exception, is a part of the very spawn 
of hell. Many of the ablest scholars have testified in amazement that 
such works as Oahspe, and The Book of Life, could not have been written 
by any one man ; that no single individual could gather such stores of 
knowledge. Be this as it may in our days "knowledge shall be increased" 
— (Dan. xii. 4), and unfortunately such knowledge " puffeth up " — (1 Cor. 
viii. I), and whether human or devilish it is all bent to the one end of 
uplifting man, and pulling down Jesus. 

Those who u lack understanding " are deceived. " To trhe law and the 
testimony," (not to the priests of Buddha), " if they speak not according 
to this word, it is because there is no light in them " — (Isa. viii. 20). " The 
knowledge of the holy is understanding," and that knowledge leads to 
faith. And when men talk of " new light for this age," let us remejnber 



180 DIVINE HEALING. 

that the Spirit's office is to bring to mind what has been said, not to trans- 
cend the written word ; and that for the last times, not "not new light," 
but great darkness is predicted. Finally, remember that, "Faith cometh 
by hearing, and hearing by The Word of God — (Eom. x. 17). 



APPENDIX D. 

My Confession. 
" In all thy ways acknowledge Him, and He shall direct thy paths." — Prov. iii. 6. 

For several years I have longed to write this little book. When I 
was led to surrender my whole soul and body into the Lord's hands, I 
found Him abundantly able to save to the uttermost. My God, for Christ's 
sake, forgave me all my sins, cleansed me from all unrighteousness, and 
healed my body of mortal disease, as related in the tract, Miracles of 
Healing. This was in September, 1879. As the months went by, a 
thought slowly formed itself in my mind. It seemed exceedingly radical ; 
different from every idea and belief of my life ; widely at variance with 
the accepted views of Christians, and, on the whole, rather a dangerous 
matter. But I could not get away from it ; so I took it to the Lord, and 
earnestly prayed for His guidance, and for the light of the Word. The 
more I prayed and studied, the deeper became i the conviction that the 
thing was of the Lord. At last, I ventured to speak about it to a few 
friends, and together we talked it over, only to deepen the impression al- 
ready formed. This thought was, that the Church has been hmiting the 
atonement of Jesus Christ. Do not start, dear reader. There is no 
doctrine of destitution hidden here. I believe that Jesus died only for 
the " Whosoever will." I began to believe that my Divine Master not 
only took upon himself my sins, but also bore my bodily sicknesses, and 
that I mi^ht, through simple faith, be free from the latter, just as well as 
from the former. To the man who believes that he must continue to sin 
as long as life lasts, there can be no parallelism of course ; but, I had 
come to see that my Jesus is able and willing to save me from my sins, 
and was trusting Him for it. He had forgiven me my past offences, and 
He had healed my past sickness — heart disease. I was trusting Him to 
keep me from sinning ; then why not trust Him to keep me from being 
sick, if Matt. viii. 17 and Psalm ciii. 3 have any present application ? 

The great question was, " Is it the truth ?" How I prayed the dear 
Lord to keep me from error ! There was not a single published word 
upon the subject, for the literature of Divine-healing was confined to Dr. 
Cullis' first volume of " Faith Cures," and " Dorothea Trudel ;" beside 
mch more general works as Horace Bushnell's "Mature and the Super- 



HEALING OF BODIL Y DISEASE. 181 

natural." I could not, therefore, get any help from man, and this fact 
threw me absolutely on God. I trusted in Him, and strove hard not to 
lean to my own understanding. But, in this way at least, I did not 
publicly acknowledge Him ; that is I did not profess my faith on the sub- 
ject. In the course of two years, however, I was led into a firm belief ; 
and then the conviction grew upon me that I must make public confession. 
At this point the devil was ready. He said, "Now if you do profess 
such a thing, even if it is true, you will not have strong enough faith ; you 
will get sick immediately ; and bring the profession into disgrace, and 
yourself to confusion." I only prayed, O Lord, make me sure of the truth, 
and I will confess it ; I have nothing to do with consequences ; that is 
Thy part. 

W ell, Jesus made me sure, and about two years ago 1 publicly an- 
nounced my belief , in a meeting held in St. George's Hall, in Philadelphia. 
A very short time before this confession I was attacked with severe 
griping pains and internal disorder. I resisted in faith, and called on my 
friend and brother in Christ, G. "W*. McCalla. He laid hands on me, 
anointing me with oil in the name of the Lord ; we both claimed immediate 
deliverance from the threatened trouble, and the Lord entirely healed me. 
In order to prevent my profession of faith, however, the devil referred to this 
attack. He argued m this wise : " It is true that you have not been sick 
of any account these two years and more, but you have had slight attacks 
of cold, etc. Now you had better not take such radical ground, for if 
you do you will be sure to catch a heavy cold ; you know you always 
have one or two in a winter, and thus you will get into trouble." I said, 
" Jesus has the keeping part, I have the believing and confessing." 

So the rubicon was crossed, and the declaration of my faith made 
public to a few. At that time I wanted to write something on the sub- 
ject, but for various reasons it was not done. And now, after two years 
of trusting and keeping, I begin to write down what I believe God has 
done for my soul and body. Meanwhile several have spoken and written 
this very item of faith — the keeping power of Jesus to save from bodily 
sickness ; but it is a matter of regret that some of these have been led 
into the mistake of disregarding all natural laws, maintaining that a man 
need scarcely sleep or eat if the work of the Lord presses upon him ; but 
that God is bound to take care of him through any amount of physical 
exertion. This I apprehend to be a grave error. Moses and Elijah fasted 
forty days and nights, but in each case a special, clear, and unmistakable 
manifestation of God's hand and will made the way plain before them. 
If the Lord wants me to work for days without natural rest, He will make 
the duty plain by supernatural indications. When He does so, I will 
work, and trust Him for the consequences. 

This, then, is my confession. 1 believe that Jesus u bare my sins — all 
of them — in his own body on the tree ;" and I believe that " he took my 
infirmities, and bore my sicknesses." Now if He bore them for me, I 



182 DIVINE HEALING. 

am not necessarily obliged to carry them myself ; so I just believe it and 
cry, from my inmost being, Praise the Lord ! Of course, I know that I 
am professing faith in an item of experience which can not be hidden 
from the eyes of those about me. A man may sin and feel condemned 
in his own heart, and no one know anything about it ; but he can not be 
seriously ill witnout the fact becoming apparent. All this I have counted. 
That is I have counted it all over into the hands of my Saviour and Physi- 
cian. I have nothing to do with the future ; I live by present breath for 
the body, and present faith for the soul. But I do boldly avow my belief 
that Sin and Sickness are from the devil / while Holiness and Health are 
from God. If I sin, it is because the devil gets the advantage m my 
soul, and if I am sick, it is because he gets the advantage in my body. 
From many sins no sickness directly results, and many sicknesses, like 
those of Job and the man born blind, are not the direct consequences of 
sins. But all the same the devil gets the advantage in the body. In 
neither case, however, does any absolute necessity exist. 

This little book, the writing of which has been singularly blessed to 
my own soul and body, is now committed to the work which Jesus may 
have for it to do. And to His name be all the praise ! 

Pennsylvania Military Academy, 

March, 1884. 

Just three years after the writing of the above I was taken with a 
severe attack of brain prostration. With the greatest difficulty I con- 
tinued in my college work in addition to my editorial labors on "The 
Kingdom." For eight years I had been incessantly at work, and always 
using the brain. This was a mistake — an honest one, for I really did not 
think I was overworking ; but it was necessary for me to learn a lesson 
in the school of health. July 14, 1887, at Mountain Lake Park camp 
meeting, in answer to prayer by Mrs. Hammer, Mrs. Sharpe, Mrs.Denman, 
and Rev. Stephen Merritt, according to Mark xvi. 18, the Lord was 
graciously pleased to entirely heal me, so that I was enabled to endure 
the severe exertion of camp preaching without the least evil result. 

In the light of the reasons and conditions developed in this book, such 
experiences will offer no argument against the Scriptural doctrine of 
Divine-healing. The conditions laid down for our observance are very 
particular and absolutely rigid. These conditions have been overlooked 
by the majority in their eagerness to obtain the gift. It is ever so. "We 
are all apt to jump over the intervening objects in order to reach our aim, 
and all too frequently we thus leave dangerous foes in the rear, and our- 
selves unprotected from their assault. In revising this book I find these 
conditions all there, and clearly stated ; but not emphasized as they 
should be in order to guard against the weakness referred to. I therefore 
warn every reader to pay special attention to the conditions attached to the 
promises quoted from the Scriptures. By so doing you will escape the 



HEALING OF BODILY DISEASE. 183 

error of man}'- critics who have written against our beliefs during the last 
five years. Yery many cases of healing have come to my knowledge as 
direct results from the reading of the first editions of this book, and some 
from my article in the Century magazine, for March, 18S7. But all such 
cases are directed into other channels, and a few which were embodied in 
former editions are omitted from this revision, for the reason that the 
only proper ground for this discussion lies in the Word of God. 

The old-time, cast-iron, fatalistic Calvinism arose from the too exclusive 
study of cases, i. e., the study of men and men's contradictory experiences. 
Arminianism on the other hand came from the study of the promises of 
God. Perhaps a careful combination may be advisable, but certain it is 
that he who studies cases of healing or salvation will soon find himself 
trembling upon the verge of fatalism, while he who studies the glorious 
"whosoever" will quickly throw wide all the possibilities of the vicarious 
Atonement to the race. 



Praise The Lord! 



Yabdville, New Jersey 
November 19, 1887. 






GLOSSARY OF SCRIPTURE TEXTS. 



Genesis. page 

i., 3 39 

i., 29 79 

iii., 16 80 

xx., 7-17 32 

xviii., 32 

xviii., 14 24, 72 

XX./.17 11, 68, 82 

xxv.; 21 11, 32 

xxx., 1-2 11, 32 

1., 20 Ill 

Exodus. 

xv., 26 11, 32, 46,115 

xix., 5-6 81 

xix., 21 170 

xxxiii., 22-25 12, 98 

xxiii.,25 46 

xxiii., 26 86 

xxxiii., 25 93 

xxxiii., 18-23 18, 23, 76 

xxxiv., 6 76 

Leviticus. 

xi., 77 

xi., 44..... 79 

xii., 6,28 79 

xiii., 80 

xiv., 80 

xv., 77, 80 

xv., 31 81 

xxi., 80 

xxvi., 15, 16 12 

Numbers. 

xii., 13 12, 87 

xvi., 47-48 12 

xx., 12 106 

sad., 34 

xxvi., 3 , 12 



Deuteronomy. page 

iii., 26 87 

iv., 40 33 

v., 29, 33 12 

v., 16 «* 32 

v., 33 33 

v., 38 _.. 67 

vi., 24 77 

vii., 12,15 12, 33, 95, 98 

vii., 9 95 

vii., 15 46 

viii., 3 50 

xii., 25-28 33 

xxii., 7 33 

xxiii., 1 81 

xxviii., 15-16 33 

xxviii., 58-62 13, 67 

xxix., 22-24 33 

xxx., 6 , 24 

xxx., 20 57 

xxxi., 17 165 

xxxii., 39 34, 46, 92 

xxxiii., 27 172 

xxxiv., 7 75 

Joshua. 

xxiii., 14 12 

1 Samuel. 

ii.,6 34,67 

xxviii., 7 177 

2 Samuel. 

xxiv., 25 12 

1 Kings. 

iii., 14 85 

viii., 37-39 82 

viii., 56 12 

xxii., 34-35 43 



186 



GLOSS ABY. 



2 Kings. page 

iv.,40 90 

v., 82 

xx., 1-11 14, 120 

xx., 5 82 

xx., 12 14 

2 Chbonicles. 

vi., 28-30 82 

vii., 12-14. 35 

vii., 13, 14 13 

xvi., 12 83 

xvi., 12, 13 14 

xviii., 64, 67 

xx., 15 14 

xxiii., 31 14 

xxx., 20 82 

xxxii,, 31 36 

Job. > . 

te.10 54,110 

xiii.,4 83,100 

xxxiii., 4 100 

xxxiii., 14-30 14, 30, 174 

xliii.,8 87 

Psalms. 

vi., 2, 5,9, 36, 82 

xxvii., 1 13, 82 

xxx., 2, 3 13, 82 

xxxiv., 7 54, 110 

xxxiv., 19 69 

xli., 2 36 

xli., 3 13, 82 

xlvii., 1 172 

xlviii., 14 172 

1., 15 172 

liii., 9 172 

lv., 22 82 

lv., 23 86 

lvii., 2 172 

lx., 11 82 

lxii., 22 89 

lxiii., 23 172 

lxv., 2 172 

lxvi., 9 172 

lxvi., 16 , 172 

lxviiL, 20, 28, 35. . 172 

lxx., 4 172 

lxxi., 16 172 

lxxvi., 10.,,... Ill 

lxxviii., 20-22. ... 36 

xc, 3 67 

XCr, 10 . ,r.. 86 



Psalms. page 

xci., 1-6 13,69, 82 

xci., 36 36 

xcvii., 11 172 

ciii., 2-5 13, 82 

ciii., 2,3 21, 179 

ciii., 3 26 

ciii., 1-5 38 

cv., 37 12,46, 95 

cvii., 39 

cvii., 20 47, 82 

cxviii., 8 172 

cxviii., 17 82 

cxviii., 27 172 

cxix., 67 167 

cxix., 71 96 

cxix., 165 172 

cxxx., 8 21 

Pbovebbs. 

iii., 6 178 

iii., 7, 8 39 

iv., 20,22 29, 39 

ix., 11 29,40 

x., 27 40 

xii., 28 39 

xiv.,27 40 

xvi., 17 40 

xvii., 22 83, 119 

xxiii., 20 73 

Song of Solomon 177 

ECCLESIASTES. 

vii., 17 29, 90 

vii., 12, 17 40 

Isaiah. 

vii., 20 70 

viii., 20 178 

ix., 6 173 

xxvi., 3 172 

xxxiii., 24 40 

xxxviii., 17 172 

xl., 29-31 40 

xliii., 25 21 

xliv., 22 21 

xlv.,7.. 64 

xlviii., 18 172 

liii 41 

liii., 3, 4, 5, 10 14 

liii., 6, 12 21 

lvii., 18 47 

lviii.,8 47, 100 

lxvi., 12 „.„.„.. 172 



GLOSS ABY. 



187 



Jeremiah. page 

vi., 7 43 

viii., 22 47, 83 

x., 19 43 

xi., 1-10 96 

xvii., 5-14 14, 47, 82 

xxx., 13 83, 119 

xxx., 17 47 

xxxii., 27 14, 47, 73 

xxxiii., 6 47, 82 

xlvi., 11 47, 83, 119 

EZEKIEL. 

xviii., 24 22 

xxxiii., 12 22 

xxxiv., 4-16 48, 82 

xxxiv., 2-16 14, 97 

xxxvi., 25-29 24 

xlvii., 12 83, 119 

Daniel. 

ix., 24 66 

xii., 4 178 

HOSEA. 

iv., 17 Ill 

MlCAH. 

vi., 13 14,48 

vii., 19 21 

Habakkuk. 

Hi., 19 48 

Zechariah. 

iv., 10 96 

Malachi. 

iv.,2 14,48,82 

Matthew. 

i., 21 48 

iv., 1-11 49 

v., 17 113 

vi., 24 73 

viii., 16, 17 14, 41, 45, 93, 179 

ix., 12 83 

x., 1-12 51, 83, 115 

xiv., 36 50 

xvii., 20 53 

xviii., 29 53 

xxiv., 35 53 

xxviii., 18, 20 84 

xxviii., 19 17 



Mark. page 

ii., 17 83 

v., 68, 83 

vi., 5 15, 51 

vi., 12, 13 51 

vi., 13 174 

vii., 13 116 

viii., 14-21 114 

ix., 28, 29 53 

xiii., 11 165 

xvi., 17, 18 17, 52, 84, 114, 181 

Luke. 

ii., 14 173 

iv., 23 83 

iv., 27 15 

v., 31 83 

viii., 43 83 

ix., 1-6 51, 83 

ix., 1-16 15 

ix., 56 51 

ix., 56 53 

ix., 62 73 

x., 1-19 15, 51, 83, 115 

xiii., 11-17 65 

xiv., 4, 5 65 

John. 

i., 4 39 

iv., 14 50 

vi., 51 56 

vi., 63 50 

xi 109 

xiv., 27 172 

xv., 7 53 

xvii., 15 54 

xvii., 18 53 

Acts. 

ii., 38 17 

iv., 17 28 

iv., 29, 30 15, 52, 54 

x., 15 77 

x., 36 171 

x., 38 • 65 

x., 48 17 

xiii., 39 21 

xix., 5 17 

xix., 11, 12 120 

xx., 31 103 

xxiv., 14 89, 169 

Romans. 

iii., 23-25 21 

iv. 25 21 



188 



GLOSSARY. 



Romans. page 

vi.. 6 72 

viii., 10-23 17, 73, 94 

viii., 11 16 

ix., 17 Ill 

x., 17 32, 178 

xii., 1 73 

xii., 3 84 

xiv., 14 78 

1 Corinthians. 

ii., 5 54, 84 

iii., 16, 17 54, 74 

iii., 22, 23 114 

v., 13, 20... 74 

v., 5 86 

v. and vi 54 

vi., 13 16, 74 

vi., 19,20 55 

viii., 1 178 

x., 8 55 

x., 13 24, 114 

x., 25-27 78 

xi., 1, 4, 16 102 

xi., 30 16, 88 

xii., 114 

xii., 28 16, 84 

xv., 23-32 18 

xv., 44 55 

2 Corinthians. 

i., 8-11 105 

i., 20 . 18, 55, 84 

ii., 14 24 

iv., 8-11 105 

v., 1-4 73 

v., 7 56 

vi., 4, 5, 9 105 

x., 4, 5 24 

x., 10, 11 104 

xi., 15 69 

xi., 30 103 

xii., 9 . 73 

Galatians. 

iii., 13 17, 56 

iii., 17 95 

iv., 13, 14 103 

i., 14 16 

ii., 5-8 106 

ii., 22 74 

iv., 8 58 

v 56 



Galatians. page 

v., 23 45 

vi., 3 33, 114 

vi., 12 67 

Phtlippians. 

i., 20 75, 101, 104 

i„ 22 104 

ii., 25-27 .84, 101 

iii., 6 97 

iii., 17 102 

iii., 21 101 

COLOSSIANS. 

i., 27 57 

ii., 4 57 

ii., 14 92 

ii., 17 75 

iii., 4 18 

iv., 12 57 

iv., 14 83 

1 Thessalonians. 

i., 6, 7 102 

ii., 10 102 

iv., 3 46 

v., 23 75 

2 Thessalonians. 

iii., 9 102 

1 Timothy. 

i., 20 86 

ii., 177 

iv., 4 78 

iv., 14 120 

v., 23 120 

2 Timothy. 

i., 6 120 

ii., 1 120 

iv., 20 101 

Hebrews. 

ii., 8 18 

ii., 14, 15 66, 67, 112 

iii., 6 74 

vii., 25 24 

ix., 22 81 

ix., 27 17, 112 

ix., 28 18 

x., 9, 10 46 

x., 22 81 



GLOSSARY. 



189 



Hebrews. page 

xi, 69 

xi., 6 84 

xi., 11 32, 57 

xiii., 6 114 

xiii., 8 84, 116 

James. 

i., 5 114 

ii., 17 84 

v., 13 85 

v., 14, 15 16, 90, 115, 174 

v., 16 18, 78, 86 

1 Peter. 

ii., 5 74 

ii., 24 15, 21, 43, 45, 93 

iii., 15 100 

ix., 9 81 

2 Peter. 

i., 20, 21 31 

iii., 2 96 



1 John. page 

i., 7 24 

iii., 8 67 

v., 11, 12 47 

v., 14-17 39 

v., 18 85 

3 John. 

i., 2 95 

JUDE. 

9 75 

12 90 

24 24, 100 

Revelation. 

i., 6 81 

ii., 10 63 

v., 10 81 

ix., 5, 6, 20 63 

xvi., 2, 9-11 64 

xx., 6 81 

xxii., 18, 19 115 




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